Employees routinely use employer-issued laptops, desktops and phones for both work and personal purposes. That overlap creates a recurring problem for employers and employees: when an investigation into workplace conduct turns up personal material on a work device, can the employer rely on what it finds?
A recent decision of the Employment and Labour Relations Court, Gatere v Royal Tulip Canaan Nairobi & another, addresses this question directly. The Court confirmed that an employer may lawfully inspect a work computer to investigate a specific workplace incident, and that discovering personal information in the course of that inspection does not, without more, a mount to a breach of the employee's constitutional right to privacy. At the same time, the judgment is a reminder that lawfully obtained evidence of misconduct does not excuse an employer from following fair dismissal procedure.
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Read the full publication at ALN
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