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by Boarder on October 17th, 2006

Boarder

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Can an employer open an employees mail, that is work related, that is addressed to the employee NOT the employer?

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Answers. 7 helpful answers below.

  • by postmuffin on October 18th, 2006

    postmuffin

    Yes, they sure can. When you agree to receive mail at someone else's address, you are making them your agent. This is true even if you are talking about two individuals - like you decided to get mail in your friend's PO box because you didn't want to rent your own, they take responsibility for your mail and if you move, they will be the one's to forward your mail, not the post office. I see that you say that it was not personal mail - so in fact it wasn't your mail, it was the company's mail. If you resigned, the person who took your place would need the mail, not you. If it was personal mail, you should not be receiving it at your place of work, because you will in all likelyhood not work there until you die. If you quit, your employer will not send your personal mail to you. Even if you are the owner of the company, it's not a good idea to receive personal mail at work because you might retire or sell the company and the new owner would not want to be sending you all your mail. So, to repeat - your employer has the right to open all of the mail that comes to the company, because it belongs to the company, regardless of whose name is on it.
    I work for the Postal Service.

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  • by mgl on June 5th, 2008

    mgl

    No, only the person who's name is on the envelope can open the mail.

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  • by DudeLer on June 5th, 2008

    DudeLer

    i believe so. i open my bosses business mail. once itis inthe building, then the law doesnt apply. it has been delivered.

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  • by JoseBac on April 2nd, 2008

    JoseBac

    Did anyone find the correct answer to this. I have searched high and low and most articles are addressing the issue right now of email privacy. So it seems that per US Code: Title 18 USC 1702, that mail addressed to a person is protected from anyone else opening the mail without the agreement of the person the mail was delivered to.

    I have a similiar issue, The letter was from the corporation addressed to me, however it was personal information and not work related. This happens many times in larger corporations that have benefit packages. They send 401K and Medical benefit packets to the hotel who then distributes them to the employee. They do not have the right to open such personal mail because no one has the right to see my 401K benefits or my Medical benefits including my social security number.

    I will let you know what happens in my case, but so far the strongest evidence I have is In Vernars v. Young, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals stated that private individuals, in their place of work, "have a reasonable expectation that their personal mail will not be opened and read by unauthorized persons."

    If this is true then the company needs to have proof of authorized agents assigned to open mail and procedures put in place to protect the employee from theft or fraud or planting of evidence and so forth.

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  • by ocotillo50 on December 10th, 2007

    ocotillo50

    It depends on how the parcel / envelope was addressed

    Mail that is obviously work related can be opened by the employer

    Mail that is marked "Personal and Confidential" is another story and employers would be well advised to proceed with caution.

    Let's say for example that an employee is going through a messy divorce and he or she instructs their attorney to send correspondence to their place of employment rather than to their domicile.

    In Vernars v. Young, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals found that opening of an employee's private mail by the employer was impermissible, stating that private individuals, in their place of work, "have a reasonable expectation that their personal mail will not be opened and read by unauthorized persons."

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  • by Will on December 16th, 2007

    Will

    If it is clearly work related, yes.

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  • by JUSTNORMAL on October 17th, 2006

    JUSTNORMAL

    Good question, but I assume the Employer was not happy because it was private mail not work related. I think it's an invasion of privacy however if it was sent to his business, he feels he has the right to open it. You might try to ask someone in human resources,,

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