03 Apr 2007

A college secretary from Wales represented by the human rights group Liberty has won a legal battle against her employers and the UK Government after a senior member of staff at the college secretly monitored her personal communications for up to 18 months without her consent.

The European Court of Human Rights found today that her employers violated her right to privacy when they logged details of her personal phone calls, analysed websites she visited, and tracked her email correspondence.

Liberty’s Legal Director James Welch said:

“Employees don't leave their personal privacy at the front door when they come to work each day. This judgment makes perfectly clear that employers who spy on their staff are infringing their privacy.”

The employee’s personal communications were monitored in 1998 – 1999 when there was no general right to privacy in English law. The implementation of the Human Rights Act 1998 in 2000 and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 now legally protect privacy rights in domestic law. Employers must now ensure that employees are aware that their communications could be monitored and that there is a good reason for such monitoring in every case. The defendant was awarded EUR 3,000 in damages for stress and anxiety suffered in the workplace.

Contact: Jen Corlew on 0207 378 3656 or 0797 3 831 128

Notes to Editors

The European Court of Human Rights announced its decision in Copland v. the United Kingdom on 3 April 2007.

The court found unanimously that there was a violation of Article 8, the right to privacy and family life, of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and found that it was not necessary to examine the case under Article 13, the right to effective remedy, under the ECHR.

A copy of the judgment is available on http://www.echr.coe.int/ECHR