Mail policy considerations: Maintaining the right to open employee mail

Employees often have personal items mailed to them at work rather than at home for various reasons. The company’s mail policy plays a crucial role in this process.

Employees should know that their employer is not excluded from the package screening process, whether due to concerns about safety or the desire to maintain a surprise. Furthermore, this applies even if they send the package to their workplace.

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) states on its website that mail is delivered to an organization if it is addressed to:

• the organization itself;
• an individual (by name or title) at the address of the organization; or
• a former official, employee, agent, etc., at the organization’s address.

This includes mail endorsed as “personal” or “confidential” for a specific individual.

The USPS’s responsibility for the mail ends when it is delivered to the organization. Then, how the mail is handled is up to company policy. If there are disputes, mail is delivered in accordance with the wishes of the company’s president, chief executive officer, or equivalent officer.

What’s your mail policy?

Having your mailroom open all mail before sorting and delivering it is perfectly legal. In those organizations, it should be easy to get employees to understand that they have no expectation of privacy and that they should not have anything personal sent to work that they don’t want others to see.

Issues are more likely to arise in organizations where the mail is typically delivered unopened. However, it’s important to reiterate that the company respects employees’ privacy. While the company maintains the right to open employees’ mail if necessary, this should be clearly communicated and not done on a whim.

To boost employee morale, the mail policy should explicitly prohibit managers from opening employees’ mail without a valid reason. This measure reinforces the company’s commitment to respecting employee privacy.

There are other limits you may want to consider on others’ opening of employees’ mail. One company has administrative staff open all mail.

However, they make an exception for mail that comes from their testing facility. This is because it can contain confidential medical information. Any mail from the facility is delivered, unopened, to the Safety Director.

Consider making an exception for mail from your payroll and benefits providers or that is addressed to your payroll and benefits managers.

More Resources:
PTO request policy: A comprehensive guide for employers
How to develop and implement a progressive discipline policy
Top considerations for your company mobile phone policy