Employer Policy Regarding Email for Personal Use Trumps Attorney-Client Privilege
A recent New York appellate court decision offers some guidance on the interplay among an employer's right to monitor email traffic, an employee's expectation of privacy in their email and the attorney-client privilege. In a decision by the Supreme Court for New York County, the Plaintiff, Dr. Scott, was fired by Beth Israel Medical Center and sued for $14 million in severance payments. Dr. Scott got a bit ahead of himself, though, and sent several emails about the impending suit to his lawyers while still employed by the hospital, using his work email account and a hospital computer. When the hospital informed his attorneys that it had the emails, Dr. Scott moved for a protective order preventing their use in litigation.
The question, then, was what took precedence, the attorney-client and work product privileges, or the hospital's email policy, which provided that the hospital's email system was not for personal use and that the hospital reserved the right to access emails at any time.
The court found that "A 'no personal use' policy combined with a policy allowing for employer monitoring and the employee's knowledge of these two policies diminishes any expectation of privacy," and the combined effect "is to have the employer looking over your shoulder every time you send an e-mail." Thus, the court held that the emails were not protected, and were properly discoverable in litigation. The full decision appears here: Scott v. Beth Israel Medical Center.
