Personal phone and work....

[jcommin]

I won't use a personal phone for work - never. This is a problem with the maintenance staff at the facility where I work especially for those that have have a limited plan - you can burn up usage in work related calls. And I know it's convenient: photos when troubleshooting, phone, text etc.

I had an engineer who used her personal phone for business use and she got tired of work calls off hours. I finally got her a company phone. Keep them separate.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Methinks you've painted yourself into a corner and you're now confronted with having to do something borderline unethical, possibly illegal (not disclosing communications that may very well be company property despite being specifically asked to by an employer) or be put in a "hostile work environment" with an employer that knows you despise them by disclosing the messages that show you can't stand it there.

If you disclose all but the "unsavory" messages and it goes to court, you can bet the opposing counsel will point out the discrepancy between what you provide and the sub received (never mind it's not directly relevant to the matter at hand) to attempt to discredit your side. At that point if it's a "surprise" to your company in the courtroom you can bet they'll be furious with you and retribution will be right on its heels - particularly if this company (as you say) is so giddy about suing people and cherishes its lawsuit track record.

You may seriously want to consider talking to legal counsel and / or resigning. If all those messages ARE company property and you get subpoenaed to hand over "all correspondence" with the sub (as you probably will be if you refuse on your own), I'd think you need to or else it could get a lot more serious than simply pissing off an employer and possibly getting fired (obstruction of justice?)

All-in-all dumb move.

[aigel]

Not a good situation to be in. I would contact an employment lawyer ASAP and get their advice.

I am stubborn, so would lean towards nuking the conversation off the phone and telling them you didn't save it. Have a lot of texts and limited space on the phone, so only really keep messages that are important, from your wife!

You may find yourself fired over this for cause and now you will have to go get a lawyer so you can collect unemployment. So, may as well get a lawyer to have a look ahead of time.

G

[A930Rocket]

I told them I don’t feel comfortable giving them my phone with so much personal and confidential information.

If they wanted to keep all texts, calls, etc, they should have given me a work phone.

All in all, there’s nothing really bad in my texts with the trade. Just us talking about work 99% of the time, venting about the company every blue moon and my thoughts about leaving soon. The owner of each company have big egos and don’t want to lose. The way my company has treated the trade is disgraceful. He’s done everything he’s been asked under impossible deadlines. My owner has short man disease and is incredibly ignorant about construction.

If they fired me over this, I wouldn’t be devastated. I’ve been unhappy here and was just waiting until my wife finished her Doctorate this month and us decide where she lands, which is NC now with her job offer.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by A930Rocket

If they wanted to keep all texts, calls, etc, they should have given me a work phone.

And baring any documented BYOD guidelines and signed acknowledgement from you about those guidelines that's pretty much the end of it.

[stealthn]

Originally Posted by cstreit

I doubt a 9 person company has a BYOD policy much less an employee handbook. Bottom line is... never say anything electronically that you want private.

Ah I do.. in IT and sell mobility solution to companies so very familiar with policies and legal requirements. Point is the company has zero grounds to ask to see anything on your personal phone unless you agreed to it. They may wipe your phone “accident” but hopefully you back it up.

They only thing they can do is disable your ability to access corporate data/email.

It’s like the company asking to see you home phone records - not going to happen

[Holger]

This is why I will never use personal tech for the company. If they want me to work for them, they have to enable me to do so by giving me the tech I need.
And, NEVER talk bad about your employer in job-related communications! Just WOW!

I have a co-worker using his work-email to sign up for private newsletters and stuff. Would never do that either. Enough freemailers with webmail available out there.