Episode 1, World@Work Employment mini-series

About this episode

Ruth Buchanan, employment partner in Ashurst’s London office is joined by James Comber, a contentious regulatory partner in Hong Kong, Dr Andreas Mauroschat, partner and head of employment, IT, data protection and compliance practice in the Frankfurt office, Rhiannon Webster, head of Ashurst's data protection practice in London and Karen Mitra, who leads the Asian employment practice out of the Singapore office. 

This episode takes a deep dive into the employment, privacy and financial regulation issues which employers should consider when they want to know how to access employees' personal devices, for example, to access data from WhatsApp or similar messaging services.

Key takeaways include employers incorporating a clause into employment contracts, explaining that the organisation may undertake personal phone monitoring as a deterrent or to ensure that it can comply with regulatory obligations regarding record keeping. Considering whether in-house resources can undertake checks of personal devices and how that would align with legitimate concerns from employees regarding the issue of holding their sensitive data. And finally to ensure a line in the sand is drawn in relation to the use of personal devices for work-related activities.

This is not intended to be a comprehensive review of all developments in the law and practice, or to cover all aspects of those referred to. Listeners should take legal advice before applying it to specific issues or transactions.