Can my former employer keep my personal email account?
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Can my former employer keep my personal email account?
I had a personal email account. When I switched my internet services to another carrier I still wanted to keep my same email address, so I transferred it to my employer’s internet business account. I was fired last year and now my email account has been suspended. I called my internet providerand I was told my employer owned my email account. How can this be right if it was never a business account and was only ever used for personal emails? It did not cost them anything to have it attached to their account.
Asked on March 8, 2012 under Employment Labor Law, Indiana
Answers:
Nate H
Answered 2 months ago | Contributor
- Account Ownership vs. Email Content: When you transferred your personal email account to your employer’s internet business account, the ownership of the account may have technically transferred to the employer as part of their business account. Many internet service providers (ISPs) treat email addresses associated with an account as being under the control of the account holder (in this case, your employer). Even if you were using the email address for personal purposes, your employer may have been the one with legal control over the account, since it was tied to their business account.
- Provider Terms of Service: Different internet service providers have different terms of service regarding email accounts. Some providers allow individuals to retain access to personal email accounts even when those accounts are linked to a business, but others may treat all email addresses under a business account as the property of the business. If your personal email account was linked to your employer’s business account, the ISP may view your employer as the owner of the email address.
- Access and Suspension: Since the email account was tied to your employer’s business account, they likely had the right to suspend or control access to it once you were no longer employed. Even if the email account didn’t cost the employer anything to maintain, it could still be seen as a part of their account under the terms of their agreement with the ISP.
- Options for Recovery: While it may be difficult to reclaim the exact email address, you might have some options:
- Negotiate with your former employer: If your relationship with your former employer is amicable, you could ask them to release the email account back to you. This might involve transferring the account to a personal ISP service under your name.
- Contact the ISP again: You could also try explaining the situation to the ISP, emphasizing that the email address was always for personal use. They might have options for reactivating it under a new, personal account, though this will depend on their policies.
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