McAfee & Taft attorney Lauren Barghols Hanna was featured in The Oklahoman discussing a U.S. Supreme Court case that will address the issue of employee privacy when it comes to company-issued phones.
The case involves a California city police department and a member of the department’s SWAT team, Sergeant Jeffrey Quon. Quon alleged the department violated his Fourth Amendment rights after transcripts of his text messages, including personal sexually explicit messages, sent using department two-way pagers were obtained and the matter was referred to internal affairs.
Several members of the department, including Quon, consistently incurred overage charges and were advised by pager program supervisor Lieutenant Duke that if they paid the overages the messages wouldn’t be audited. Though they were later given contradictory information, according to Hanna, “Quon alleged that as long as he continued to pay for his overages, he believed his initial informal agreement with Lieutenant Duke trumped the department’s later communications.”
The claim was initially dismissed but the decision was later reversed by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Hanna told The Oklahoman, “The department appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court which likely will reverse the Ninth Circuit’s decision.”
The Supreme Court's decision is expected later this year.
In light of this case and its potentially wide-reaching effects, Hanna advised employers of the need to have electronic monitoring policies, make sure they are clear, and update them frequently.
You can read the entire article here.