Employers in France now have a legal right to keep close tabs on their employees. The country's Supreme Court has officially allowed top brass to read their subordinates’ SMS messages sent from work phones.
According to the judgment, text messages sent or received through
a work phone “are assumed to be of a professional
nature,” in other words work-related. Only the warning
“personal” at the beginning of the message will stop
your boss from reading the message about your private life,
which, for some reason, was sent to your work phone.
All work-related messages can meanwhile be viewed and even taken
to court "for legitimate reasons," especially if they
contain insults, allegations of suspected fraud or breach of
confidentiality.
Porosité pro/perso, l'adoption des NTIC nous obligera-t-elle à la schizophrénie ? [Will use of new information and communication technologies lead to schizophrenia?]
— Ombeline Michel (@Omb_ML) February 20, 2015
According to France's Metro News, the court's decision taken on
February 10 has gone "completely unnoticed," but
involves "hundreds of thousands of employees." Local
media have only been reporting it during the past 24 hours.
The ruling states that bosses “have the right to consult
messages on the work phone in the presence of the employee,
unless the messages are clearly identified as being
personal,” French daily Les Échos says.
"The use of such messages by the employer cannot be equated
with the recording of a private telephone call made without the
knowledge of the author," the Supreme Court states.
@videoludroit Oui, le salarié peut noter «perso», ou «privé» au début de son message >> dans ce cas le texto ne peut être lu par l'employeur [Yes, a worker can note 'personal' or 'private' at the beginning of the message... then it won't be read by the boss]
— Felix Drouet (@FelixDrouet) February 20, 2015
Top Court lawyer Jean-Philippe Duhamel said the ruling is made “for consistency and simplicity.” A similar ruling was made two years ago regarding work computer systems and emails sent from work accounts.