Personal laptop seized and searched without consent

[ScottyD]

Ohio

Hope this post is in correct forum. The closest topic I could find.

I brought one of my personal laptops to my place of employment to browse the web on breaks and lunches. I usually leave it there for weeks at a time. Apparently, our IT department had recently noticed a drop in our network performance, so thinking that my laptop may be the cause of this, they confiscated it while I was out of the office. For a little over a week, I did not know where my computer was, and I guessed that it had been stolen. My laptop was password protected, so they actually connected directly into my hard drive to view the contents. I would not have believed that they did this, but they had printouts of my family pictures that I had on this machine as proof that they did. They found file sharing software (utorrent) on there , so I was accused of being the one who was slowing down their network. May have been my fault..I don't know. I received a written warning which described, in detail, the confiscation and search of my machine. The "computer usage" agreement that I signed 7 years ago says nothing against bring personal PC's to work. Although nothing incredibly personal or embarrassing was found on my laptop, I still feel as though my personal rights were violated. Did my employer overstep their legal boundaries by performing this seize and search?

 

[cbg]

You had it hooked up to the employer's network?

Without permission?

 

[ScottyD]

You had it hooked up to the employer's network?

Without permission?

Yes. I am in management there. It's a bit of a "Mom N' Pop" operation. Pretty relaxed, in that they let employees access the network with their smartphones and such. About 25 full-time employees. I've had my computer there on and off for a few years now.

..Should also note that I would have gladly logged them on to my computer and let them search with my consent. I just not real impressed with the way they went about it.

 

[cbg]

But it WAS attached to their network?

Not my area of expertise, but what little I do know suggests that if it's attached to their network, they have the right to examine it.

 

[swalsh411]

You DO have a legal right to privacy in the workplace where you have a reasonable right to expect such privacy. For example, under most circumstances, your employer could not legally search the trunk of your car in the company parking lot, or your purse you left at your desk when you went to a meeting.

However in this case, you connected an unauthorized computer to the company-owned network with full knowledge that you were not allowed to do that. You had no reasonable expectation of privacy. The company has every right to inspect hardware and software on it's network, especially if they have a reason to believe it's causing problems.

Frankly you should consider yourself lucky not to get fired. Your attitude that somehow you have been wronged is incredulous.

 

[ScottyD]

Thank you. I appreciate the replies. You are probably right. I just wish they would have asked before searching.

 

[cbg]

You didn't ask before attaching it.

 

[ScottyD]

You didn't ask before attaching it.

That is correct.

 

[Mass_Shyster]

The fourth amendment, that protects against unreasonable seizures, only applies to seizures by the government. If they have not returned your equipment to you, you can call the police and report the stolen item. If they returned it to you, you can sue for whatever financial damages you suffered because you were without the item for the time they had it, and for the depreciation of the item during that time.

I suspect your actual damages are negligible.

Also, as you've learned, password protecting the machine doesn't protect the data on your hard drive. You need to encrypt that to prevent unauthorized access.

 

[Sloop John D]

However in this case, you connected an unauthorized computer to the company-owned network with full knowledge that you were not allowed to do that. You had no reasonable expectation of privacy.

I would disagree on this point. The OP said they accessed the computer's contents by confiscating it and reading files directly from the hard drive. Files were not obtained via the network connection. It sounds like access to the computer's hard drive through the network was not possible, meaning a reasonable expectation of privacy could still have existed.

Because this wasn't an intrusion by a government agency, the fourth amendment doesn't really come into play. You would probably want to look into a tort claim for intrusion.

 

[swalsh411]

Files were not obtained via the network connection. It sounds like access to the computer's hard drive through the network was not possible, meaning a reasonable expectation of privacy could still have existed.

I see your point and I think a good lawyer could argue either way.

What the company should have done was just ban the computer (via MAC address) from the network entirely and then returned it to the OP with clear direction to never bring it back. Searching the hard drive was probably an over-step, but not one the OP can really do anything about short of suing his employer.

 

[Ohiogal]

The company should have just fired him. That way he would have all the privacy he wanted.

 

[Sloop John D]

The company should have just fired him. That way he would have all the privacy he wanted.

Right... because what sane person would desire privacy from their employer?

 

[swalsh411]

And what sane employer would fire an otherwise good employee over a minor lapse in judgement?

 

[Sockeye]

The company should have just fired him. That way he would have all the privacy he wanted.

I think the company is in the best position to make this decision.