The Constitutional Court Decision Regarding Examination of the Corporate E-mail Account

The Constitutional Court Decision dated 12.01.2021 and numbered 2018/31036 (“Decision”), published in the Official Gazette dated 05.02.2021 and numbered 31386, discusses the examination of the bank employee’s corporate e-mail account by the employer. In the Decision, it is evaluated whether the authority and procedure of this examination has violated the employee’s right to demand protection of personal data and freedom of communication.

In the incident subject to the Decision, the employer terminated the employment contract due to the employee’s violation of the prohibition of working in another job and low performance, and exhibited the e-mail correspondence as an evidence.

The Decision analyzed the elements of the balance of interest that should be established between the management right of the employer and the fundamental rights and freedoms of the employee.

In brief, it is concluded the employee’s fundamental rights and freedoms have not been violated for the following reasons:

• The employment contract bears the provisions informing that the corporate e-mail account shall only be used for business purposes and can be audited by the employer without notice.
• The employee has given approval for the authority and the procedure of auditing.
• The employment contract includes the termination clause, clearly ruling that if the employee does not comply with the determined obligations – such as the use of the corporate e-mail in accordance with its purpose, the detection of low performance and the prohibition of working in another job – the employment contract may be terminated.
• The employer only examined the e-mail content supporting the claim that the employee has been working in another job and only used these contents in the judicial process to prove the claim.
• You may access the full text of the Decision here.