Text messages: privacy in employee communications in the USA

Abstract

US federal case law utilising statutory and constitutional provisions, has started to define what privacy expectations employees may have in their electronic communications in such mediums as e-mail and text messages. The Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution provides some protection to public employee's privacy interests, while the Stored Communication Act of 1986 limits the ability of an electronic communications service to divulge contents of text messages without the consent of the recipient or addressee. These protections provide only minor restrictions on the ability of an employer to ascertain the contents of an employee's text message.