Supreme Court, ruling no. 156/2022
An employee was dismissed for sending abusive messages via WhatsApp on a work computer.
The Luxembourg Labour Court initially invalidated the dismissal, stating the messages were illegally obtained by the employer.
However, the Court of Appeal justified the dismissal, reasoning that leaving WhatsApp open on a work computer implied a professional nature to the messages.
The Supreme Court upheld this decision, highlighting that the messages were on a work-provided computer, accessed by the employer for legitimate reasons.
Since the messages weren't distinctly marked as private, and were accessible without a password, they were considered professional in nature and not protected by the secrecy of correspondence.
This case underscores that privacy at work isn't an absolute right.
Employees must use employer-provided IT tools responsibly, marking private content clearly.
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