If your work computer is owned by the company, then your employer is allowed to access data on it or monitor your online activities carried out using the computer. In fact, it is common now for litigation attorneys to recommend that companies monitor employee-used computers and access data for a variety of reasons.

When the computer is owned by the company, accessing the data is not viewed as an invasion of privacy. In most cases, the company is protected in their practice of monitoring and accessing the computer. The can even monitor your internet use in real time via another computer.

Among the types of things employers often monitor include downloaded files, emails sent and received, social media pages accessed from the work computer, browsing history, screen savers, documents stored on the computer, your time log of computer use and IM messages or chats. Employers are concerned that workers are wasting time, exposing their computer system to viruses, sharing sensitive or privileged information (company secrets) with people who should not have it or using a work computer to harass or stalk people.

If you have an employee handbook, it may be stated in it that the employer can and will monitor its computers and access any data they deem it necessary. If you’ve been with the company for more than 5 years, this information may have been distributed more recently rather than being included in the original handbook you received. Terminology may be included to the effect that you should have no expectation of privacy when using your work computer.

Employers accessing of data has formed the basis for many civil lawsuits over the years. Litigation attorneys are less likely to take on these cases now on behalf of employees. This is because case law has established the rights of the employers to monitor online activity access their own computers in any way they would like to.

In order to protect employees from this type of snooping by the company, it is recommended that you do not use your private email accounts or social media accounts from your work computer. Even if the employer has no right to read your private email from a non-work account, if you regularly access the account from a work computer, it can probably be accessed by your employer. While a litigation attorney might make a good case for you in such a case, you may want to avoid the issue in the first place.

The same basic rules apply to your work computer, an employee-owned cell phone or PDA. If you believe your employer has overstepped appropriate bounds, contact a litigation attorney to discuss the case. Be prepared, however, to be told by the litigation lawyer that case law favors the employer in most circumstances.