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An employer's right to monitor company property is complicated, especially when employees use devices for both work and private purposes, so clear policies are essential, a workplace lawyer says.

Holding Redlich state managing partner Rachel Drew says "company property" can include a laptop or mobile phone issued to an employee for the purpose of carrying out their employment duties, and might even apply to devices that are only part-paid by an employer.

"Employees may think that logging onto their personal email account means that their communications are private," Drew says, but accessing personal emails on a work resource is "still using company systems and opens them up to scrutiny"...