Control of Internet use during working hours has always been a subject that has raised a lot of controversy. And on this occasion, the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid (TSJM) supports a company that can review the search history of employees when they use the computer at their workplace.
Knowing which web pages employees visit from the work computer while they are working hours is backed by the TSJM with a latest sentence that has now been released. However, one point in particular must be taken into account, that the right to privacy of people is not violated at any time. And all as a result of a specific case in which an employee was fired last year by his company.
Review the web history of workers
The affected worker was fired from his company in February 2022 without compensation, after the company considered that he was using the Internet for personal matters, since its use “is certainly limited to professional purposes, to web pages not related to this use «. Although now, the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid supports the worker in a certain part and the company itself in another.
The sentence in particular is from last April 26. In it, the TSJM supports the company to review the activity of employees on the Internet during the working day. Although, it makes it clear that as long as there is no “violation of the right to privacy” of the worker. As has happened in this particular case. Basically, because the control was not of the documents or emails sent, only the search history of the company’s computer was controlled.
And it is that, according to the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid, this type of control does not infringe the right to privacy of employees, since the company has the right to check when they deem it necessary to use the technological resources that it makes available. from the workers.
The company fired a worker, since his company verified that he visited different websites during working hours such as parquetparedes.com, lacronica.net, guadalajararadio.com; leroymerlin.com, bricomart.com, coches.net, idealista, adidas.com, viking.es or coches.net. Just like you entered YouTube or Facebook. For this part, the TSJM considers the dismissal unfair, for which the company has to pay compensation of 32,176 euros or reinstate him and pay him the wages he has not received since his dismissal.
In any case, the sentence makes clear the support for the company to review the employee’s Internet activity, but it must be considered a minor offense, and not a serious one, since it is not a conduct of “fraud, disloyalty or breach of trust”. «. In addition, it has only been possible to verify that they have used the Internet to visit these websites in “in four specific days”. The TSJM even considers that the time lost is equivalent to any distraction and, for this very reason, declares it unfair dismissal, since the connection to these websites did not exceed one hour.
