IDPC issues FAQs on Management of Employee Email Accounts (Post-Departure)

11 April 2025

The IDPC has published a set of FAQs on the management of employee email Accounts once an employee leaves an organisation. When this happens, questions often arise regarding the appropriate management of their work email account. While employers have a legitimate interest to maintain business continuity following an employee’s departure from the organisation, the employer’s operational concerns must be balanced against the data protection rights of outgoing employees and any other individuals involved, as set out in the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679. This includes handling work email accounts in a manner that is proportionate, transparent, and respects the confidentiality of any personal correspondence that may be in the account.

The FAQs seek to provide practical and helpful guidance on how employers can navigate these situations in a way that is compliant with the Regulation. In particular, the FAQs encourage employers to adopt a proactive, structured approach to managing employee email accounts both during the employment relationship and after the employee’s departure from the organisation, and address key questions around common practices such as automatic forwarding and automatic reply messages.

You can access the FAQs here