Haynes and Boone, LLP
  June 30, 2010 - United States of America

U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Employer Searches and Underscores Importance of Electronic Communications Policies
  by Arthur T. Carter, Matthew Thomas Deffebach, Felicity A. Fowler, Melissa M. Goodman, Meghaan C. McElroy, Brenna G. Nava, Dean J. Schaner, William C. Strock, Jonathan C. Wilson

Technology, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the U.S. Supreme Court. Its current mission: to explore strange new electronic communication devices; to boldly go where no court has gone before.

In its pioneer voyage into the perilous realm where workplace monitoring of a new technological device meets an employee’s reasonable expectation of privacy, the United States Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision that provides guidance on steps employers can take to reduce an employee’s privacy expectations and emphasizes the importance of having a clear, well-defined privacy policy. The Supreme Court decided City of Ontario v. Quon on June 17, 2010, holding that the City of Ontario did not violate an employee’s Fourth Amendment privacy rights when it reviewed personal text messages that the employee sent and received on his employer-owned and issued pager.1

1 City of Ontario v. Quon, 560 U.S. __ (2010).

To read the full alert, click on Link to article below.

The Labor and Employment Practice Group of Haynes and Boone, LLP has significant experience in drafting employment policies on electronic communications and assisting employers to address employee privacy concerns.

For more information, please contact the Haynes and Boone attorney with whom you work or any of the following attorneys in the firm’s Labor and Employment Practice Group:

Arthur T. Carter
214.651.5683
[email protected]

Melissa M. Goodman
214.651.5628
[email protected]

Dean J. Schaner
713.547.2044
[email protected]

Matthew T. Deffebach
713.547.2064
[email protected]

Meghaan McElroy
713.547.2082
[email protected]

William C. Strock
214.651.5623
[email protected]

Felicity A. Fowler
713.547.2072
[email protected]

Brenna G. Nava
210.978.7430
[email protected]

Jonathan C. Wilson
214.651.5646
[email protected]




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Read full article at: http://www.haynesboone.com/us_supreme_court_upholds_employer_searches/