Is it legal to open other peoples mail at work ?

Apparently it is our unwritten policy that all mail regardless of who addressed to is opened by the directors before being handing on to the relevant staff

I believe it is in case there are free vouchers/offers/gifts so that the directors can keep them for themeselves

Oh and that of trust, they have a serious trust issue with every member of staff too

So legally are they allowed to open someone elses mail, I always thought it was illegal, but may bee wrong in a corporate environment

What if the letter/parcel is marked private & confidential or to be opened by addressee only etc

 

All our mail is opened regardless

If you are using works address then I guess you have to expect that


Legalitities are another matter

 

Simple really...


Post some dog poo to yourself....

 

If the mail is addresses to you personally then it is illegal for them to open it without your permission. If the letter is addressed to you at your company, then they as directors have responsibility for everyone in the company so they can open it. Not sure about keeping the vouchers etc

 

I think it's more the case that you shouldn't be getting personal mail at work, and therefore the letter will be to the company rather than an individual person.


With regards to gratuities, we aren't allowed to accept them at all, any freebies like calenders that get posted and that sort of thing get held in purchasing and get dished out at christmas.

 

I'm not convinced this is the case at all.

 

One of the many reason's I'd hate to work for a large company!

 

All emails on work computers are owned by the company, and can therfore be opened by authorised personel.
In the same way that every letter sent via Royal Mail to your workplace is owned by that company.
We had some hassle just this year, when someone was opening someone elses personel emails (and responding to them).

The simple thing to do, is if you have private emails that you do not want anyone else to read, get people to send you emails via Hotmail/Yahoo etc, and open them up when ever you want. Problem solved

 

Some of our post is opened regardless and some is held for the individual. Its pretty easy to tell whats work and what isn't. Written letters we tend to ask the adviser first if they are not in the office. Written letters are usually from clients so could b e sensitive.

As to the reasons directors open mail. I personally can't stand other opening our mail because odds on they will usually **** it up and give the wrong mail to the wrong adviser etc.

Not sure if its the same for others but the person doing our mail gets quite pi55y if we look through the mail before they finish.

 

What's the company policy on the reciept of personal mail at the office?

 

Send an official-looking letter to one of your co-workers about their appointment at the sex-change clinic

 

LOL at some of the answers

We are a very small company (about 25-30 staff) no one recieves private/personal mail it is all company and/or work related

The reasons they do it are because they dont trust anyone, plus they make damn sure no-one gets any freebies, because they need them for themselves etc

 

Nice bunch to work for, then.

 

Postal Services Act 2000.. could apply

The repercussions for someone opening mail that is not addressed to them with deliberate intentions to either remove the contents or cause determent to the addressee are serious. 6 months in prison serious.

There is also the issue of theft, assuming that certain things are happening and that the items they are removing are your property then they are possibly leaving them selves open to this.

Lastly there is the issue of the Data Protection Act. Anyone that opens your post at work is bound by the DPA, as such you need to be informed why etc etc, the Information Commissioner’s Office will be able to give you more information on this.

However the above does not really mean you can go wading in with both boots, I would tread carefully.

Most companies will have a form for you to sign regarding post. There is also the practice of "double bagging" anything thats sensitive / personal (i.e envelope in an envelope) with P&C marked on the inner one. Most companies will accept that there may be the odd occasion when personal mail will have to be sent to your work address... but sounds like your company is maybe a bit paranoid...

Hope this helps.

 

The most effective reply by far!

Les

 

Isnt the law something along the lines of if its company related then it belongs to the company

Certainly for the likes of vouchers/gifts etc, if not law then I am pretty certain something like that is in our contract about anything we obtain whilst in employment belongs to the company

It doesnt overly concern me as I get very little post anyway from work, but I was more curious about the legalities of it

There is certainly nothing in writing, nor have we signed anything, its just paranoid and untrusting directors

 

One of my chums gets all his **** and sex related products delivered to his work address

 

Was it this bad when your Brother worked here Abs ?

 

We have all our eBay stuff sent to work. your directors would have a field day with all the high heels and naughty underwear that turns up here

 

LOL one is not at liberty to discuss such matters good sir for fear of more threatening legal letters
I am sure when our kid worked there it was the most wonderful place on earth, where bosses and minnions alike skipped to work on rainbows

 

He hasn't had any of those too has he ? seems like a lot of ex employees get those

Not sure about Rainbows, maybe Cuckoo's and Clouds spring to mind, as that seems to be the current theme around here

 

Without wanting to involve myself in another amusing although lengthy and costly legal battle with my previous employers I will say this to them.

 

LOL I do find it rather amusing

I found out today that one of our customers who spent about half a million, when they cancelled the contract because they didnt give us the correct 3 month notice, the MD demanded 300 quid from them in compensation

As a result, although the main guy there wanted to continue using us for other work, has now been told catagorically never ever contact us again, and we are never to so much as breathe near the place anymore

All over 300 quid

 

I think its down to the company isn't it - when I used to work as a PA I opened ALL post for my team - unless it was marked Private & Confidential. Thats just the way it was - I think if the Directors of a company are opening post though - thats a bit odd anyway - surely - the point of being a "cheif" is that you have "indians" to do such mundane stuff??? LMAO

 

@Sonic, that wouldn't be BH by any chance?

 

No not BH, been doing lots of work for them lately, and am back in there tomorrow

It is one that begins with B though, and the main guy there is BC

 

I open all post that comes to my company, irrespective of who it's addressed to- as I need to know if someone is using my address for personal business.

For instance, a couple of months ago I discovered my PA's boyfriend had somehow managed to register a mobile at my company address.

I suspect the correct course of action would be to return any personal mail 'this is not a postal address for XXX' rather than to open it though....

 

I work for a large company and I get all my mail unopened.

I'd certainly get a bit pi**ed off if my boss started opening my mail. I have nothing to hide but it's a trust issue.

I have an engineer who works with me but on a lower grade, he fills in when I'm off and I pull in some of his duties when he's off. We have an understanding to open each others mail if one of us is off but that's as far as it goes.

Cheers
Lee

 

There is no reason for anyone to have ordinary mail sent to their work address so I don't see why there is a problem in the first place.

However . . .

I can understand people asking for mail and parcels that need to be signed for asking for them to be sent to their work address as it is a nightmare collecting stuff from carriers or the sorting office if you are not home when the items are first delivered.

In those circumstances, I would ask the boss for permission to use the company address for the delivery before I ordered the goods.

That way there should be trust on both sides that a] the package is not opened and b] the busines address is not being abused.

Otherwise, if anything through the company mail box or goods inwards gets opened by the company.

 

can anyone help on this

the boy left home and we have some mail piling up for him mostly junk mail and there is a couple of letters from banks etc

as we do not know exactly where he lives now can we open his mail postage ?incase its something important ?