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:

• Surfing the internet for fun;

• Playing games either by oneself or with others over the internet;

• Spending time socializing in Chat Rooms;

• Running social or private business matters from Company facilities;

• Sending/ receiving private/ personal emails.

Activities that could lead to Disciplinary Action

Activities that may be frowned on by your Employer would include:

• Unproductive use of Company time ... attending to matters not of a Company nature during work time;

• Downloading or distributing pornographic material;

• Downloading or distributing undesirable material such as racist or political propaganda;

• Distributing dirty jokes;

• Selling Company personal information, trade secrets, database;

• Setting and building parallel organizations that can later be used to compete with the Business.

Action the Employer can take if misuse is detected:

• counseling of the employee;

• verbal / written warnings;

• disciplinary hearings;

• dismissal.

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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.

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 The information provided herein is based on a document available on the official CCMA website.

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