Legality of snooping on a logged in account?

[AHarvey]

Accept the letter apparently states:



That appears to be stating fact, 'illegal websites' (plural and were they illegal?), 'accessing' (asserting something did happen). If you weren't sure of this being the case and needed to investigate further I'm not sure you'd state it as though it were fact. If he was suspended on full pay for suspected breach of contract pending further investigation wouldn't he have his disciplinary hearing post investigation? It sounded as though he's had a disciplinary that he took a colleague in with him for but maybe this was just for his suspension? Whether it constitutes 'Gross Misconduct' is also somewhat of a gray area as I think the employer would need to demonstrate how said action caused a tangible loss to the business.

Standard procedure is that after an incident has been reported HR will hold an initial meeting to discuss the allegations and suspend the employee while it's investigated. You'll get a letter explaining it. It's rare you'll take or get to take anyone in here as it's just a meeting to inform you what is happening.

You'll then be invited to a second interview where evidence will be presented, your statement can be recorded. It's normal to take someone into these meetings, ideally a union rep, but they can't answer questions on your behalf but can but in if the meeting isn't being conducted properly. They should provide you with evidence collected before you attend so that you can build a defense.

Once this is done, you'll either be awaiting a second meeting for further evidence or just the outcome of the meeting.

As for the OP's relative, it appears that he's had the initial meeting informing him of the investigation.

The issue here is, what system did the person log on to? How are these sites illegal? Unless it's some creepy porn then regular porn or torrent sites are not illegal, even if they go against company policy.

The only illegal thing that appears to have happened in this case is that someone has read his personal emails, which, even the companies IT department are not allowed to do.

 

[TheLegendOfMart]

He's going to a meeting tomorrow and HR wont talk to him saying its "out of their hands now". So I'm guessing he's about to be dismissed and I will probably find out the details. He's got a meeting with solicitor earlier in the day too.

 

[GGizmo]

I wonder what the legal status is for if your private email account is open and someone looks at it, then uses that information against you, is that a crime?

Also if he did access his private email on a company computer/device does that mean it's no longer private?

The only sites that can be considered illegal would be those containing illegal material.

If he accessed his email and didn't log off the account and a spam email came in of a dubious nature with a subject header indicating illegal material, could this be what they are meaning?

 

[d_brennen]

If these sites aren't "illegal" as alluded to, he could have them up for defamation of character, surely?

All sounds very sketchy though

 

[Ergates]

If these sites aren't "illegal" as alluded to, he could have them up for defamation of character, surely?

All sounds very sketchy though

No, for defamation, the claim must have been made to someone other than the person defamed. The letter was private correspondence between the company and the cousin.

 

[Ergates]

The only illegal thing that appears to have happened in this case is that someone has read his personal emails, which, even the companies IT department are not allowed to do.

There is nothing in the story to suggest anyone actually *read* any of his emails - just that he apparently logged into Gmail on a works computer.

Could also be that by "illegal" they mean "against company policies" not literally illegal.

 

[Terminal_Boy]

I wonder what the legal status is for if your private email account is open and someone looks at it, then uses that information against you, is that a crime?

Also if he did access his private email on a company computer/device does that mean it's no longer private?

The only sites that can be considered illegal would be those containing illegal material.

If he accessed his email and didn't log off the account and a spam email came in of a dubious nature with a subject header indicating illegal material, could this be what they are meaning?

Using another employee’s computer unless agreed in advance with a line manager or IT is usually a breach of IT policy.

Have seen a former co-worker go from spotless HR record to final written warning in one silly step for using a colleague’s computer to send a group email from said colleague’s work email.

The email was utterly innocuous too, something like “I really enjoyed the canter meal today..” Anything malicious would have seen the guy being instantly promoted to customer and out the door with his personal stuff in a cardboard box.

 

[Rroff]

I wonder what the legal status is for if your private email account is open and someone looks at it, then uses that information against you, is that a crime?

Also if he did access his private email on a company computer/device does that mean it's no longer private?

The only sites that can be considered illegal would be those containing illegal material.

If he accessed his email and didn't log off the account and a spam email came in of a dubious nature with a subject header indicating illegal material, could this be what they are meaning?

Depends a lot on the context - but any digging into the account to get information the account holder hasn't given you permission to access is legally problematic. Even if someone logs into a private account on a work PC where they aren't supposed to that doesn't give the employer or anyone else that works for them any right to look through the account details - if they see something they believe is illegal then they should immediately call the police it is not an internal matter.

 

[AHarvey]

There is nothing in the story to suggest anyone actually *read* any of his emails - just that he apparently logged into Gmail on a works computer.

Could also be that by "illegal" they mean "against company policies" not literally illegal.

True on the email but that could be checked via the browser history on the device if they know the date and time. If they've used illegal for against company policies then that's a mistake on their part, prohibited should have been used instead, meaning he has a case to argue that their suspension is incorrect.

As you say though, lack of details doesn't help

 

[Scort]

He's going to a meeting tomorrow and HR wont talk to him saying its "out of their hands now". So I'm guessing he's about to be dismissed and I will probably find out the details. He's got a meeting with solicitor earlier in the day too.

Put a call into ACAS asap too - they're brilliant, and really have helped me in a previous work hellhole; they will give the exact things to do next (formal complaints/grievance etc) - whereas a solicitor may not have knowledge of employment laws etc...

 

[thenewoc]

If they can prove he's in breach of company policy he may well be guilty of misconduct but 'gross misconduct' is more difficult to prove and will make the difference between an official warning and being dismissed unless he's already at the max amount of warnings.

 

[The Geezer]

I think HR have used the term ‘illegal’ interchangeably for ‘Against Company IT Policy’.

The company have a duty of care for the IT environment and if they deem access to personal email accounts is off limits due to finding that’s a route of viruses entering there network that’s their call.

Like everyone else there is too little to go on to draw a conclusion on

 

[Diagro]

Why did he leave his computer unlocked breaking GDPR? If they can't get him on the websites they can get him on that.

He could then get them on the Computer misuse act for looking at his private data when left logged in.
I would go further and ask them why they don't have auto lock set up within mins of leaving the workstation.

 

[TheLegendOfMart]

I dont want to go into too many details for obvious reasons. He got a copy of the notes that were taken during the investigative meeting.

It all stems from him asking his work colleague to reset his facebook password and when the senior logged into my 2nd cousins gmail on the seniors company laptop it sent all of his emails and internet history to them.

They have a policy about not accessing the internet while caring for clients. They have evidence that he has been looking at a torrent site while at work purely by the fact it pings in his internet history at specific times and they compared it to his rota.

I've checked his phone and there is no evidence of a torrent site being accessed on his phone. I can only assume that he left it logged in at home and popups are appearing or the site is refreshing at those times which show up in his history.

In his contract they have an Electronic Communication Policy that says they can monitor email messages and internet use to be carried out when deemed necessary. I think they are concerned that he has been looking at dodgy sites while caring for their clients.

 

[Diagro]

I dont want to go into too many details for obvious reasons. He got a copy of the notes that were taken during the investigative meeting.

It all stems from him asking his work colleague to reset his facebook password and when the senior logged into my 2nd cousins gmail on the seniors company laptop it sent all of his emails and internet history to them.

They have a policy about not accessing the internet while caring for clients. They have evidence that he has been looking at a torrent site while at work purely by the fact it pings in his internet history at specific times and they compared it to his rota.

I've checked his phone and there is no evidence of a torrent site being accessed on his phone. I can only assume that he left it logged in at home and popups are appearing or the site is refreshing at those times which show up in his history.

In his contract they have an Electronic Communication Policy that says they can monitor email messages and internet use to be carried out when deemed necessary. I think they are concerned that he has been looking at dodgy sites while caring for their clients.

Their policy will most likely state that that can monitor WORK emails.

Not his personal emails.

Also looking at his history which I expect is Google Synced.. woops(again private information) is a no no imo.

To then delve further into his history for time stamps and then cross referencing Vs his rota is imo blatantly abusing their powers.

Under the computer misuse act, it's illegal for anyone to access your data without permission. Even if left logged in

 

[Diagro]

I dont want to go into too many details for obvious reasons. He got a copy of the notes that were taken during the investigative meeting.

It all stems from him asking his work colleague to reset his facebook password and when the senior logged into my 2nd cousins gmail on the seniors company laptop it sent all of his emails and internet history to them.

They have a policy about not accessing the internet while caring for clients. They have evidence that he has been looking at a torrent site while at work purely by the fact it pings in his internet history at specific times and they compared it to his rota.

I've checked his phone and there is no evidence of a torrent site being accessed on his phone. I can only assume that he left it logged in at home and popups are appearing or the site is refreshing at those times which show up in his history.

In his contract they have an Electronic Communication Policy that says they can monitor email messages and internet use to be carried out when deemed necessary. I think they are concerned that he has been looking at dodgy sites while caring for their clients.

Their policy will most likely state that that can monitor WORK emails.

Not his personal emails.

Also looking at his history which I expect is Google Synced.. woops(again private information) is a no no imo.

To then delve further into his history for time stamps and then cross referencing Vs his rota is imo blatantly abusing their powers.

Under the computer misuse act, it's illegal for anyone to access your data without permission. Even if left logged in

 

[Ergates]

It all stems from him asking his work colleague to reset his facebook password and when the senior logged into my 2nd cousins gmail on the seniors company laptop it sent all of his emails and internet history to them.

What does this mean? Who is "the senior"? who is your 2nd cousin and how do they fit into this tale? When you say "them", who?

 

[TheLegendOfMart]

They work in pairs, his senior is the more experienced member of staff. My second cousin is the one about to be sacked. Them are the company who is about to sack him.

 

[azibux1]

Just because he logged into gmail, how did it magically send all of his emails and history to the company?

 

[TheLegendOfMart]

It's a company laptop, I am assuming they have software installed that captures all that information.