In Austria, around one in five employees owns a company-issued phone. Naturally, questions arise when the boss provides an employee with a company phone. May one also make private telephone calls? May the boss check the contents of the smartphone – for example, text messages or apps? It is important that agreements are made in advance, which the employee must of course adhere to. If private use has been prohibited, the employer may at any time check whether the employee is complying. Michael Eckert, an employment lawyer, says the boss may also check 'connection records, email traffic and visited websites' if private use was prohibited in advance. If the employee is allowed to use the company phone privately, the employer may not carry out any checks.
The company mobile phone – curse or blessing?
Disputes repeatedly arise when an employee uses the company mobile phone, but on the other end it is not the business partner, but his partner, who wants to know when she should prepare dinner. To avoid possible arguments, the rules set by the employer must be recorded in writing. If private use is therefore prohibited in writing, and the employee does not adhere to this and repeatedly talks to their girlfriend on the phone, this behavior naturally has consequences. On the one hand, the employee faces a formal warning, and on the other hand, they can even be dismissed. A court has already ruled against an employee who used their work mobile phone while on vacation and made more than 100 private calls. These calls subsequently cost the employee their job.
It also becomes problematic when private calls, which may have been prohibited, are made during working hours. Strictly speaking, this constitutes two violations: the employee is using the work mobile phone for private calls and is therefore also taking an unauthorized break – private posts on Facebook and Twitter made via the work mobile phone can also be the employee's undoing. Of course, it should also be discussed in advance which apps may be used. If the supervisor allows private use, this does not mean that all apps or additional services may be installed (or terminated). WhatsApp, the popular messenger service, is also not automatically permitted just because the work mobile phone may be used for private purposes. This is because WhatsApp forwards the numbers of all saved contacts directly to the company. This means that a legal violation has occurred – the employee can therefore be given a formal warning for violating data protection regulations. To be able to use WhatsApp on the work mobile phone, they would have to obtain the consent of all contacts saved in the phone book in advance.
Can a work mobile phone also be refused?
Anyone who thinks they do not want a work mobile phone at all cannot simply refuse it. The employer can demand that the employee use the work mobile phone so that they are reachable even when they are at a client meeting. The work mobile phone can then be switched off during the lunch break or after work. But while many employees are annoyed because they have been given a work mobile phone and now have to follow numerous rules and regulations, many other employees are disappointed because they have not been provided with a work mobile phone. The fact is that there is no entitlement to one. If colleague XY has a work mobile phone, colleague AB does not necessarily have to receive one as well. In the end, it is still the supervisor who decides who gets a work mobile phone and who must be reachable via their private phone.
