Since Google became a household name in the 1990s, companies have been implementing policies concerning their employees’ use of the Internet while at work. Today, the majority of employers large and small tell workers that they may monitor anything the employees access on their work computer. Ridgefield Park, N.J.-based home health care provider Loving Care Agency Inc. was no exception.
But when Loving Care acted in reliance on its policy and read some e-mails an ex-employee had sent to her lawyer, the Superior Court of New Jersey Appellate Division wasn’t happy. In Stengart v. Loving Care Agency Inc., the court ruled that in certain circumstances, an employer’s regulations have to yield to the employee’s privacy rights.
