The events began a few months ago, when different colleagues of the accused and, now dismissed, noticed that internet access was slow and complained in the company's systems department.
After verifying that the slowness was due to the excessive traffic coming from the connection of that employee, the managers of the company proceeded to remind her of the existence of internal regulations on the use of computer equipment, which expressly prohibits browsing inappropriate Internet pages and warning that this could not generate additional costs for the company and that resources necessary for the work activity were consumed.
After verifying on several occasions that the worker continued to visit different pages and platforms such as Facebook, Hotmail or Tuenti, the company decided to audit her computer verifying that up to 72 connections were made in a day and proceeded to her dismissal by the Social Court on the basis that "the performance of her functions does not conform to the parameters of quality and dedication required by the provision of her services".
The worker appealed to the High Court of Justice alleging that her privacy rights had been violated by having audited her computer.
However, the ruling of the appeal indicates that the audit is carried out after several warnings to the employee about the norms accepted and signed by her, so the control measure adopted is "neither unjustified nor disproportionate" and "there has been no violation of the right to privacy, being a valid evidence to prove the dismissal".
Source: TN
