Terminated because of Leaked Private Chat Messages

[Eko209]

Hi. I was recently terminated because of leaked Private Chat messages between me and my co leagues. Apparently a member of the Private Group Chat who we believe has a grudge against us leaked a copy and has shown it to our boss.

The private chat messages do contain discontents, vents and rants about our superiors which I believe were only natural. I may sound to be a bad employee, but I made it a point to do what is asked and deliver every time.

From the presented printouts of the chat messages used as evidence. The time and date stamps when the discussions were held indicates that were not under Office Hours anymore. We were doing these private chats outside the company premises, outside office hours, not using any company resources, within the privacy of our homes.

Can these leaked chat messages be used and is it legal for the company to use this against us? How does the company policy apply if were not in the office nor are currently under any shifts on it when the alleged messages were made?

They claim that this is on the grounds of "willfull breach by the employee of the trust reposed In him by his employer; Sabotage; Insubordination".

We feel that our legal rights for Privacy were violated. Please help... thank you.

 

[cbg]

Sorry, but it is quite legal for you to be fired for badmouthing your employer, even if you did it on your own time. Nothing in the law prohibits your employer from using the information that was leaked to them. There is no "legal right to privacy" as regards this situation.

 

[jharris352]

Secondly you are in Asia, which is not a jurisdiction but a continent. There are any number of laws in any number of countries that we would not know. In General though I agree with CBG, when you are on the clock working for someone you have no expectation of privacy in your conversations. Therefore your firing is not a violation of privacy.

 

[cbg]

Boy, teach me to answer questions in the middle of the night..... I completely missed that this was outside the US.

Completely disregard my answer as it is based on US law and may or may not apply where you are.

 

[Eko209]

Thank you very much for all your expert advices. Yes I live in Asia, In the Philippines to be exact, and I do realize that the laws that we follow here are different from yours. But here's something for your reference:

***.privacyinternational.org/survey/phr2003/countries/philippines.htm

(I took out the www, so that I could refer you the link)

Well, I'm very much concerned really with the legality of the leaked Private Chats. Leaked by someone who has the malicious motives against us. Private chats were intended for the consumption of the participants, hence the word "Private".

If it was been leaked by someone from the chat group and was shown to someone else, that someone wont have any rights to it because that someone wasn't part of the Private Chat Group. Hence a breach in our privacy rights. These were all done without our consent and no court orders or subpoenas were given out.

It was a Private Avenue where we vent our frustrations, and was done Outside office hours, Outside Company Premises and without using any of its resources. Are we not entitled to that? We weren't really badmouthing anyone in those chats, we were infact discussing facts about daily office politics and how to go about them.

I would just like to know if I do have grounds at some point to file a complaint, I feel really betrayed and violated. Cause I'm being terminated on the grounds that all normal employees react to, do and feel about.

Again thank you very much. I know you guys follow and study a different set of law. It's just that me and my family can't afford to get legal cousel/help as of the moment. Taking the route to get a public attorney/lawyer would take months. If you guys could point me on how to go about this properly would be really appriciated. Thank you very much.

 

[Eko209]

Secondly you are in Asia, which is not a jurisdiction but a continent. There are any number of laws in any number of countries that we would not know. In General though I agree with CBG, when you are on the clock working for someone you have no expectation of privacy in your conversations. Therefore your firing is not a violation of privacy.

Hi, no I wan't in the clock, nor in office premises and nor am I using company resources. I was infact at home. The evidence against me shows that. Thank you.

Sorry for double posting. (I don't know how to merge this from my previous post)

 

[Patricia_Young]

OP, it doesn't make any difference. No one here knows the laws where you are.

 

[Eko209]

I understand. Thank you all for your help.

 

[army judge]

I would think that the authenticity of the chats must be established, regardless of jurisdiction.
Were the alleged chats conducted on company computers or during working hours?
How was your identity established?
You should speak with your local labor authorities and a local attorney about this matter.
If some things are not as they should have been, you might have legal redress available to you.