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PRIVATE USE OF THE INTERNET AT WORK
Does an employee have a general right
to utilize the employer's equipment for personal/ private interest?
No employee is entitled to
utilize his employer's business equipment, which is provided to the
employee for business purposes, to further his own personal and/or
private interests.
Every employer has the right
to insist that ALL resources which are provided to the employees are to
be used strictly and exclusively for business purpose and that the
personal / private use of all business equipment is strictly forbidden.
In the CCMA case of
Singh and Island View Storage Ltd, an employee was dismissed
for distributing a sexually explicit e-mail to three colleagues.
What constitutes private use?
Most of us instinctively
know what constitutes business use and what constitutes personal/
private use. However for those who need a little clarity,
personal/ private use would include:
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Surfing the internet for
fun;
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Playing games either by
oneself or with others over the internet;
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Spending time
socializing in Chat Rooms;
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Running social or
private business matters from Company facilities;
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Sending/ receiving
private/ personal emails.
Activities
that could lead to Disciplinary Action
Activities that may be
frowned on by your Employer would include:
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Unproductive use of
Company time ... attending to matters not of a Company nature during
work time;
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Downloading or
distributing pornographic material;
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Downloading or
distributing undesirable material such as racist or political
propaganda;
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Distributing dirty
jokes;
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Selling Company personal
information, trade secrets, database;
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Setting and building
parallel organizations that can later be used to compete with the
Business.
Action
the Employer can take if misuse is detected:
>> Join Labour Protect before
you get busted
Rights of
Privacy when using email and internet
What can one do when your
employer either unannounced request accesses to your computer or simply
goes snooping around your computer while your back is turned to check on
documents, internet use and emails. Can one say that such action
violates your Right to Privacy?
Employees do not have an
automatic right to utilize the employer's facilities for the purpose of
personal and private communications and then not to expect their
employer to read these communications during the course of his
monitoring the use of the equipment.
It should therefore be noted
that Rights of Privacy are limited when using equipment of the
business.
Company Policy and Procedures
A Company may recognize the
need to protect its interests, establish rules that are designed to
protect those interests and introduce measures that differentiate
between business and private use of electronic communication.
Many employers have chosen
to formulate written Company Policy and Procedure which could include
govern the use or misuse of electronic equipment.
You should check with your
Human Resource Manager whether this is the case and see how your
activities line up with the specifics of the Code.
When applying any Policy or
Procedure, the Employer would have to apply the normal principals
concerning Misconduct, including substantive and procedural fairness and
any action taken would have to be consistently applied right throughout
the organization.
>>
Labour Law
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