Can employers check their employee's sms?

Dear Omkar,

Personal things are not to be done in official time and on official gadgets or support systems, like official internet and computers.

Employers can’t check employee personal devices but they can check company equipment. Many employers can do that and if it’s done with company property many companies will check. That’s why it’s best to send messages on your own devices & on your own time.

Employers can’t check employees personal property unless a serious crime has been committed, if they have a court order and the police is involved.

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IN CASE IF COMMUNICATION IS BEING DONE AT COMPNAY'S COST THAN IT MUST BE CONTROLLED.IT MUST NOT BE OBJECTIONABLE ALSO AS THE FACILITY IS PROVIDED BY COMPNAY FOR IT'S USE. 

BUT THE FINANCIAL ASPECTS INVOLVING IN SUCH SCANNING IS ANOTHER MATTER OF CONCERN.

It depends on situation because i never heard about any company/employer who are checking SMS messages of employees. It can happens only in the situation of doubt. And if employers don't have trust on their employees then simply make rule that "No Mobile is allowed in working Area". rather than checking Sms messages of all employees.. such a time consuming work; pure wastage of time...

If  employer provided cell with sim card then the employer has right to check it. But If it is your personal then he does not have any right

If you accept a phone and/or laptop from the company, issued for professional use, then the company rules should be followed. A company has then the right to check if the rules are followed and are thereby allowed to check the devices if they suspect otherwise.

If this is restricted, then the only other option for the company is to restrict the usage of the devices. In other words, if you use the devices in the way they are intended, then there should be no problems and you would not ahve any objection to these laws.

If the cell phone is provided by the employer - with sim card - for use at work, then the employer, i believe has every right to check it. If it is your personaL number, then he definitely does not have the right.

Yes! The employer should have every right to check the official lines provided to the employee.

In extreme circumtances when employers have reason to believe that official data/codes etc are being sent outside the premises of the organization through sms or mobile-emails, the employers can check employees mobile device and this is not against the freedom of the employees.

We all know how these high-end mobile devices are being misused.

When the court say "workplace rules" is also means privacy of the official data.

Logically speaking , yes.

The key words here are "if the employer genuinely has reason to distrust the employee". I would put the proviso , that since this invasion of the employee's privacy is akin to a search warrant of his house , it should be authorised by a judicial authority , either the police or the court. Prior to this , the employer should have filed a case against the suspected employee.

It is a different matter whether this can be enforced or not. But implementation of a law should not come in the way of drafting it. Drafting a law is based on whether it is right or wrong , not on whether it can be implemented or not. Once we decide that it is right to draft such a law , then we can turn our minds to how we can implement it.

All roads had speed limits drawn up , even before we had the means to detect overspeeding.

When at work we are required to deliver 100%. Wastage of time and violating the rules is not in order. If we were owners, would we not want similar controls during woorking hours?