Bosses will be able to read their employees' WhatsApp messages
This was confirmed by the European Court of Human Rights in a ruling confirming that employers they can check the messages of WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Yahoo Messenger or any other communication system of the worker during working hours Of course, as long as it is an account related to the company with which you work.A case that creates jurisprudence and that may affect the cases that occur in Spain
The case of this ruling takes place between the years 2004 and 2007, when a worker must create a professional account on Yahoo Messenger to serve the clients of the company he works for. On July 13, 2007, the company informed the worker that his conversations had been monitored for several days that same month, discovering that he used the company account for personal purposes when meeting conversations with his partner and with his brother, for which he was fired for violating internal regulations that prohibit the use of resources from the company for personal purposes
After denouncing the case in the Romanian courts, where the incident took place, the case ascended to European Court of Human Rights, where the worker expected his right to correspondence to be defended, the worker understanding that his privacy had been compromised afterwards her boss checking her private conversations.
Now the ECHR confirms what the Romanian courts have already dismissedwhen indicating that the worker knew the internal regulations of the company, and adds that the boss acted in accordance with the law, in “fair balance between the plaintiff's right to respect for his private life” and “the interests of the employer”, says the sentence.
Thus, spying on conversations and messages from WhatsApp and other services and applications messaging and communication already can be monitored by employers or bosses without fear of violating their privacy Of course, it is understood that they must beaccounts created specifically for the professional field, so the worker should not use them to carry out personal communications of any kind.Furthermore, in this case, the internal regulations of the company clearly specify the prohibition of this practice
This sentence can be applied in Spain, a country that accepted the European Convention on Human Rights in 1979, at least in the cases that reach the Strasbourg court, where jurisprudence remains from this case.
It will be necessary to see how this ruling affects future cases, and if it is applied in the same way in Spain However, Keep in mind that you cannot spy on the conversations of the application WhatsApp without having access to the worker's terminal. Although everything indicates that it will be necessary to have well-differentiated user accounts from now on to carry out relevant personal and professional conversations during working hours.And what do you think about your boss spying on your conversations during working hours?
