Legal Question in Legal Ethics in Utah

A coworker of mine got onto my computer while i was at lunch and read my personal emails. Some of the info was about her, and it was not good. She is the daughter of the CEO and is vying to get me fired. I live in Utah, a fire at will state, and am afraid they'll find any dumb excuse to axe me. Was it legal for her to access my account? She is not an IT admin, she works in a completely different department.


Asked on 8/17/09, 10:23 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Cory Wall Cory R. Wall, Attorney at Law, P.C.

It depends on the nature of your computer network and the company's policy concerning personal email communication. Some companies have a policy that anything you send and receive is subject to being monitored and is not "private". If she is not in a position with the company to be monitoring your email, then she may very well have violated your privacy which may be actionable in court. As far as your employer is concerned, as you correctly point out, Utah, like many other states, is an employment at will state and your employer can terminate you for no reason at all. So your concern shouldn't be whether they're looking for any excuse to axe you, as you put it. They can let you go for no reason at all.

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Answered on 8/26/09, 5:15 pm


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