Staff messages and the law
Can my employer read my Slack messages? The US and UK law
Updated
The question a company asks before licensing its chat history is the one its staff ask about their messages. US and UK law answer it with notice, consent and control of the system, not one rule.
No one law answers it. Each of the laws below asks something different of an employer before staff messages are read, recorded or passed on, and most turn on notice, consent or who controls the system.
Source: The law on reading and passing on staff messages
| Statute or rule | Whose law | What an employer needs first | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wiretap Act, 18 U.S.C. 2511 | US, federal | Prior consent of one party to the communication | 18 U.S.C. 2511 (Cornell LII) |
| Stored Communications Act, 18 U.S.C. 2701 | US, federal | Authorisation; a user of the service may authorise access to that user's own messages | 18 U.S.C. 2701 (Cornell LII) |
| General Statutes s31-48d | Connecticut | Prior written notice to the employees who may be affected | Connecticut General Statutes ch. 557 |
| Civil Rights Law s52-c | New York | Prior written notice on hiring, acknowledged and posted | New York Civil Rights Law s52-c |
| Investigatory Powers Act 2016, s3 | UK | A right to control the system, or that person's consent | Investigatory Powers Act 2016, s3 |
| Data Protection Act 2018, s170 | UK | The controller's consent before personal data is obtained, disclosed or sold | Data Protection Act 2018, s170 |
| FCA SYSC 10A | UK, regulated firms | Keeping a copy of electronic communications on dealings | FCA Handbook, SYSC 10A |
Before a workspace export is licensed
- Check what staff were told about monitoring, and when.
- Keep the copies a regulator expects; a licence moves a prepared export.
- Strip names and personal channels before anything leaves.