Court decision · 5 September 2017
Bărbulescu v. Romania
Application no. 61496/08, Grand Chamber judgment of 5 September 2017 · European Court of Human Rights (Grand Chamber)
What it means for your code
Workplace and B2B monitoring features (message logging, screen capture) need advance notice, proportionality settings and purpose limits built in.
What happened
An employer monitored an employee's Yahoo Messenger communications on a work account and dismissed him for personal use.
What was decided
Domestic courts failed to strike a fair balance under Article 8: employees must be notified in advance of the nature and extent of monitoring, and monitoring must be justified and proportionate.
The legal test applied
- Employees must be told in advance of the possibility, nature and extent of monitoring
- Monitoring must pursue a legitimate aim and be proportionate, considering less intrusive alternatives
Summary and analysis by Lawpatch, checked by an editor against the source. Risk analysis, not legal advice; the law may have moved on since this decision.