Can work read personal emails sent outside of work?

[razer121]

To much to explain but long story short i split up with a girl i worked with, we had some heated email arguments outside of work yes outside of work.

yesterday she had ago at my female mate and has went and complained to management who have got HR involved and such, either way she has shown them personal PMs between me and her on Facebook, She has also shown them personal emails we sent to each other outside of work.

To add management has discussed this all with another member of staff who is not a manger or anything, he has told me that the manager said that one of us needs to go and it is not going to be her. and that the HR chaps have looked at all the evidence and emails and such.

It sounds to me like they are trying to compile a case against me to fire me but im unsure where i actually stand with this as personal stuff is personal and what she did was out of order, she came outside of the shop and had ago and my friend (female not girlfriend but is an ex) f-ing and blinding at her whilst on work hours in front of customers, i walked away and told my friend to and said nothing to her.

I have also found out that everyone in the store is on her side with this shocker i know o_O help!

[Larkspeed]

Well to answer the question in the title yes they can.

They did not go and blindly read the messages they were given them by one of the recipients so were given permission to read them.

[razer121]

see this is something a little bit of research has shown up, under a act "regulation of investigatory powers act 2000" consent of both parties is needed and only she gave consent not me...plus it has nothing to do with work i had a relationship with her these things happen o_O dont understand how it is being used against me for what she did to my mate when she was at work and i was just shopping

[kalniel]

Being on someone side doesn't count for anything in a tribunal. They can't just fire you unless their position is supported contractually.

And on a personal note - shouldn't you know better by now mate?! Either you're sponsored by Jeremy kyle or perhaps you should keep yourself to yourself in the relationship department for a while

[razer121]

Well this is what i have thought but im really worried about loosing my job more than anything, and yes i should know by now lol!

But look at it this way, i kept it all outside of work o_O she brought it back into work its driving me nuts im actually feeling sick and stressed out that much im so damn worried.

[kalniel]

Well this is what i have thought but im really worried about loosing my job more than anything, and yes i should know by now lol!

But look at it this way, i kept it all outside of work o_O she brought it back into work its driving me nuts im actually feeling sick and stressed out that much im so damn worried.

You didn't keep it all outside of work if you started a relationship with a colleague..

Sit down, look at your contract, look at your staff code. Work out if there's anything that you've broken. If not, they can't fire you and if they do go for constructive dismissal. But worry about that if it happens and not before. Just keep your head down and do your work otherwise.

[blueball]

To add management has discussed this all with another member of staff who is not a manger or anything

...and that's where you may have them!

[razer121]

Well unfortunately i cannot find anything on it..yes it is with an employee but still this is personal and outside of work and again nothing to do with what happened yesterday, this is my problem they wont do anything about it o_O and i cannot see why this is all being brought up now

[Biscuit]

Get yourself educated. Ask for a copy of your contract and read up on the rules, prepare yourself a well thought out statement, issue it and then just get on with your work. Not much more you can do other than that

[0iD]

Get yourself educated. Ask for a copy of your contract and read up on the rules, prepare yourself a well thought out statement, issue it and then just get on with your work. Not much more you can do other than that

2nd this, learn their Acceptable Use policy if they have one.

& good luck

[Biscuit]

2nd this, learn their Acceptable Use policy if they have one.

& good luck

In fact yeah, just ask for everything you agreed to when you started the job in paper. Just requesting this might be enough for them to realize they might not have a leg to stand on.

[Unique]

the best thing to do is call ACAS as they can give professional experienced free confidential help. the emails are only part of things. i don't know how long you've been employed or what you do or what the problem is, but if you have less than a years service they can end your employment at any time for any reason and you have no rights to a tribunal unless it's sex/age/race/disability discrimination. after that, rather than go through a disciplinary they could simply give you notice and make you redundant

if it was treated as a dismissal and it was unfair, you have to raise a tribunal complaint and go through all of that if you really want to

at the moment it doesn't seem like any formal action has been taken against you, so until that happens and you have formal written details of the complaint you don't have much to go on. all people can do is guess. the outcome will depend on all sorts of things from size of company (as bigger companies will usually go by the book) to relationships with managers

you also haven't said what is in the emails, but even if outside of work, if you have said particular things to another current employee that may adversly affect a working relationship and you both need to work together, then it could be used as evidence. it would be up to a tribunal to rule otherwise if you went that far

[TeePee]

Don't poop where you eat...

[GoNz0]

was it you that had all the issues with work before razer?

[TheAnimus]

was it you that had all the issues with work before razer?

Yeah he's like the hexus version of eastenders.

But seriously OP, you don't want to piss off the people you work with... Ever. As a result you have to be careful when fornicating with them.

[razer121]

I'm on my phone so bare with me as this will be short, we don't have a acceptable use policy how ever after reading my handbook, both me and her have broken the rules as ur.not allowed to slate other employees so unsure how they can use it against me and not her. But with regards to her having ago at my mate she had broken a big rule which is.violence towards other employees and customers something I have not done, I also pulled up old pms which she threatens me with repercussions and such.