Is it legal to open someone's post in work marked 'private and confidential'?

Graham wrote: »

That was suggested earlier in the thread, any source?

The expression “post letter” shall mean a postal packet, as defined by this Act, from the time of its being delivered to a post office to the time of its being delivered to the person to whom it is addressed, and a delivery of a postal packet of any description to a letter carrier or other person authorised to receive postal packets of that description for the post shall be a delivery to the post office, and a delivery at the house or office of the person to whom the postal packet is addressed, or to him or to his servant or agent, or other person considered to be authorised to receive the postal packet according to the usual manner of delivering that person’s postal packets, shall be a delivery to the person addressed.


http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1884/act/76/section/19/enacted/en/html

Graham wrote: »

I don't see anything that suggests the law stops at the office door.

Me either. I also don't see anything that suggests you have any right to use your employers premises for private business - they may well allow you to, but it is not a given.

stoplooklisten wrote: »

The expression “post letter” shall mean a postal packet, as defined by this Act, from the time of its being delivered to a post office to the time of its being delivered to the person to whom it is addressed, and a delivery of a postal packet of any description to a letter carrier or other person authorised to receive postal packets of that description for the post shall be a delivery to the post office, and a delivery at the house or office of the person to whom the postal packet is addressed, or to him or to his servant or agent, or other person considered to be authorised to receive the postal packet according to the usual manner of delivering that person’s postal packets, shall be a delivery to the person addressed.


http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1884/act/76/section/19/enacted/en/html

Yes that's correct, a letter is delivered to the address of the home or office of the person as opposed to the actual person, however there is nothing in law regarding the offence of opening the letter which suggests the offence is no longer applicable after it is delivered!

GM228 wrote: »

Yes that's correct, a letter is delivered to the address of the home or office of the person as opposed to the actual person, however there is nothing in law regarding the offence of opening the letter which suggests the offence is no longer applicable after it is delivered!

The data protection act covers the mail from the door and basically it boils down to what the company policy is on monitoring in the workplace.

Graham wrote: »

The data protection act doesn't automatically override any other legislation that may also apply.

Can you quote the legislation you are referring to that it may override or not?

Graham wrote: »

Postal and Telecommunications Services Act, 1983

S84 was repealed and replaced by the link I provided earlier, both more or less worded the same.

As I stated there is nothing in law which says the offence for opening the letter dosn't apply once delivered, it still applies after delivery, problem is it's addressed to both a physical person and a company (i.e the company address) so either can technically open it as "person" means both a physical person and a company.

Unless i'm mistaken,the OP doesnt really want the nosey old bat fired or arrested or anything, just to stop sticking her nose in where it doesnt belong.
If you've got a HR department or person go talk to them, get them to lay it on thick...or go have a chat with her (witnessed),but dont get mad..

Yosef Great Nail wrote: »

OP here. Exactly. I don't want World War 3 or anything...she's difficult and temperamental enough to work with at the best of times. It's just the sheer nosiness of it. She will only say she did it 'by accident' as she has said before, when I know FULL WELL it's totally deliberate.

I had the same thing happen to me too. It was exam results and I assumed the results would be posted to home which was the primary contact for them. The person who processes the post opened it up, knowing exactly what it was - the envelope had the institute logo and its full name on it. Opened by mistake, my arse.

I decided to let it slide even though I wasn't happy about it. The person was quite senior and long standing staff member, I was relatively new so it would only backfire on me and make me look petty getting worked up over a mistake. My partner said that I should start sending myself all sorts of stuff, like head-hunting job offers and see how quickly the gossip mill worked.

Sapphire wrote: »

I had the same thing happen to me too. It was exam results and I assumed the results would be posted to home which was the primary contact for them. The person who processes the post opened it up, knowing exactly what it was - the envelope had the institute logo and its full name on it. Opened by mistake, my arse.

I decided to let it slide even though I wasn't happy about it. The person was quite senior and long standing staff member, I was relatively new so it would only backfire on me and make me look petty getting worked up over a mistake. My partner said that I should start sending myself all sorts of stuff, like head-hunting job offers and see how quickly the gossip mill worked.

Im not sure its your colleagues job to examine every envelope checking for school logos on the off chance he/she would know "oh this is a personal one...better not open it". I do realise it was the school/colleges fault if your home details were the details they should have used but come on folks, people need to take responsibility for their own stuff here.

In this case, I would be blaming the college for sending it to the wrong address (although, one begs a question why they would even have your place of work if you didn't give it to them previously)....not your colleague who is only doing their job!

estariol wrote: »

I guess in essence I am asking if addresse only has any more weight than P&C?

Neither carries any weight, legally.

But you do have a genuine HR grievance against your company for failing to safeguard your personal data.

Internal mail should generally only be opened by the person it is addressed to. it is quite different to external.

Yosef Great Nail wrote: »

OP here. Exactly. I don't want World War 3 or anything...she's difficult and temperamental enough to work with at the best of times. It's just the sheer nosiness of it. She will only say she did it 'by accident' as she has said before, when I know FULL WELL it's totally deliberate.

If you dont want World War 3 Boards is not the place for you.

Ashbx wrote: »

Im not sure its your colleagues job to examine every envelope checking for school logos on the off chance he/she would know "oh this is a personal one...better not open it". I do realise it was the school/colleges fault if your home details were the details they should have used but come on folks, people need to take responsibility for their own stuff here.

In this case, I would be blaming the college for sending it to the wrong address (although, one begs a question why they would even have your place of work if you didn't give it to them previously)....not your colleague who is only doing their job!

Actually it was their job to screen the post and not open the private stuff. They do not generally open private post and normally leave it on the persons desk, sealed for them to open if it appears to be anything remotely personal. That is the accepted culture of that workplace and the unofficial policy regarding post. There is no official policy as its a fairly informal office and lots of staff get deliveries and post there for convenience and its fully permitted.

The person in question knew what it was because they were in the company of someone asking me when I would hear about my exams and I had replied with a rough time-frame of when I expected to hear back. That, coupled with the fact it was marked private and confidential, plus had a logo and full organisation title on both the front and the back of the envelope meant the person knew exactly what was in the envelope. They just wanted a nosey to see how well I'd done.

These were professional exams and for various reasons, you need to have given them your employer details in order to do the course and exams. That's why they had that address for me on the system as well as my home one. I did mention it to the Institute at the time when I called them to sort out the address mix up and they were very apologetic - and that was enough for me. No more letters to my work after that, so all good.

I was more amused than angry. I'd tend to be transparent about my exam results like that so the person who opened my letter would have been told how I got on anyway. But other people might be more private and not want colleagues to know their exam results, and I could understand why.

Milly33 wrote: »

So was anything said to her

Working in offices for years and id never open mail addressed to a specific person.

The only mail, whether its parcels, letters to be opened would be those addressed to the office or to me.. If one was opened accidently I would consciously try not to see anything and put it back in the envelope and say to whoever it was for that I opened it by mistake..

Even to stamp it, is a bit rude as then it could be considered works... Time for some naughty pics to be sent or maybe some mail to her saying please stop opening my private mail

I mistakenly opened a letter addressed to a neighbour that was in our letterbox and did exactly the same. As soon as I saw her name on the inside I stuffed it back in and stuck it back in her post box and dropped her a text.

But the person who opened mine did read it, because they congratulated me on passing my exams in front of colleagues before handing me the letter. I was convinced I'd failed so was too distracted by my delight in doing well it was only really at home later that it hit me how cheeky it was! .