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Federal Law Allows Employer Search of Stored Worker e-Mail, Court Says

By Shannon P. Duffy
December 01, 2003

An employer does not violate the Electronic Communications Privacy Act by digging through an employee's e-mails in computer storage, since the law bans an “interception” only if it occurs at the time of transmission, the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled.

The judges held, in Fraser v. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 24856 (No. 01-2921), that since Richard Fraser's e-mails were stored on Nationwide's system, any search by the company was authorized by a provision in the ECPA that expressly exempts owners of e-mail systems from claims alleging illegal “seizure” of stored e-mails.

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