Bosses would have to notify workers before monitoring e-mail

June 4, 2001

SACRAMENTO – Bosses would have to notify their workers before monitoring the employees' at-work e-mail, under a bill approved Monday by the state Senate.

An employer who failed to advise workers about the monitoring could face a $1,000 fine.

Sen. Debra Bowen, D-Marina del Rey, said her bill allows employers to monitor their workers' e-mail. If the employer had not notified workers about the monitoring and found workers using their e-mail inappropriately, the employer could still discipline those workers.

The Legislature in 1999 and 2000 passed Bowen bills that would have prohibited employers from secretly monitoring the e-mail or computer records of their workers. Both were vetoed by Gov. Gray Davis, who said they placed too difficult a legal burden on businesses.