Legal Question in Technology Law in North Carolina

Employer demands personal email password

I received a phone call at 10:15p.m. at my home from the Director of Finance stating they wanted to get on the internet using a laptop from the office. The CEO and this director along with the H.R. director are all fiends and took vacation and went to the beach. They noticed that their was an acoount from a provider with our user name but it need a password and they ask me for it. I explained the account was on there to download some things to put on a PowerPoint for work and had never been used for pesonal use and that they could not use it. I suggested that they sign up for a free account of their own using a internet provider. The CEO sent me an email stating that it took them along time to get online since I would not give them my password and that she would be speaking to my supervisor about disiplinary action. Is it legal for a director that is not even my supervisor in the chain of command to demand my password for my personal email while I am off and she is on vactation at the beach and then the CEO write me up or terminate me because I refused to let her have a personal password? Please let me know if this is legal and if there is any recourse.

Thanks


Asked on 9/28/05, 4:13 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Edward Hoffman Law Offices of Edward A. Hoffman

Re: Employer demands personal email password

Your story doesn't make much sense, since you say both that "the account . . . had never been used for pesonal use" and that it contains your "personal email". Only one of these statements can be true.

If the first is true then I think the company is entitled to the password. After all, the emails it will find are all records of work conducted for the company and employees can't decide to hide such records from their superiors. But if this was the case I doubt you would have resisted giving your colleagues the password.

The issue gets a lot thornier if you were using a work-related account for personal emails, or even accessed a personal account from a company network or computer. Mr. Anderson's reply mentions some of the many possible issues that may arise in such a case.

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Answered on 10/02/05, 11:07 pm
David Anderson Anderson Business Law LLC

Re: Employer demands personal email password

Who owns the computers?

Who is the ISP subscriber?

Do you have a written employee manual re: user accounts and internet usage?"

I need more info before I can advise.

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Answered on 9/28/05, 5:09 pm


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