# Should I delete my work email account? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 27, 2014, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-delete-my-work-email-account/684650 "2014-03-27T00:33:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ThisUsernameIsForbidden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b4bc9f/32.png) [@ThisUsernameIsForbidden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisUsernameIsForbidden)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-delete-my-work-email-account/684650/21 "2014-03-27T15:10:29Z")
> [@huitzilopochtli](#): > > I have just quit my job at a chiropractor’s office. My boss asked me to send him the password to my email. **This email is one that I set up because it was too difficult to sort out work email from personal.** I set it up and it is attached to my personal info. Is it best if I delete the account? There are emails from patients and I don’t want/need to have patient information available to me. There are a few problems here. First, any information from a patient or customer to you is owned by your employer. Second, any information from a patient to you is confidential. Third, assuming the computer is your own, any information on your computer is your responsibility. You’ve put yourself in a bind, but not to worry. Since this is a work email just give your employer access to the account, which she has the legal right to anyway. On the other hand, I might not be clear about what you mean in the bolded text above. Are you saying that you created a separate account just for work? If so then I was correct in my assumption. If you are saying you created a filter or folder in your personal account, then I was not correct. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-delete-my-work-email-account/684650/22 "2014-03-27T15:12:19Z")
> [@ThisUsernameIsForbidden](#): > > Since this is a work email just give your employer access to the account, which she has the legal right to anyway. How do you figure? ---
**Author:** ![ThisUsernameIsForbidden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b4bc9f/32.png) [@ThisUsernameIsForbidden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisUsernameIsForbidden)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-delete-my-work-email-account/684650/23 "2014-03-27T16:26:31Z")
All employers have the legal right to anything you acquire by way of your employment. They have the right to any information you acquire by way of your employment. If you set up an account for work purposes they have the right to that too. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-delete-my-work-email-account/684650/24 "2014-03-27T16:28:36Z")
> [@ThisUsernameIsForbidden](#): > > All employers have the legal right to anything you acquire by way of your employment. Not pictures you’ve taken. ---
**Author:** ![ThisUsernameIsForbidden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b4bc9f/32.png) [@ThisUsernameIsForbidden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisUsernameIsForbidden)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-delete-my-work-email-account/684650/25 "2014-03-27T16:30:23Z")
I didn’t see the “not pictures” exception when I was looking up the law, but you may be correct. ---
**Author:** ![Inna\_Minnit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Inna\_Minnit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inna_Minnit)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-delete-my-work-email-account/684650/26 "2014-03-27T16:32:15Z")
Since the horse is already out of the barn, I would contact my employer, walk them through getting logged in then have them immediately change the password so I no longer have access to it and relinquish that email to them. IANAL. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-delete-my-work-email-account/684650/27 "2014-03-27T17:16:50Z")
That’s not a bad idea, although I would delete any personal account information and recovery e-mail addresses too. > [@ThisUsernameIsForbidden](#): > > All employers have the legal right to anything you acquire by way of your employment. They have the right to any information you acquire by way of your employment. If you set up an account for work purposes they have the right to that too. It’s a free account hosted by a third party. The OP set it up for her own administrative convenience, not for her employer’s benefit. And the absolute rule you are invoking _doesn’t actually exist_. If one of our vendors gives me a free promotional pen, it is not my employer’s property by law (it may be by the terms of my employment contract, but there is no evidence of such an agreement here.) If I bring a notepad to work to help me handle my job duties, it doesn’t become my employer’s property unless I record proprietary information in it. The same is true of an e-mail account. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-delete-my-work-email-account/684650/28 "2014-03-27T17:57:45Z")
> [@Inna\_Minnit](#): > > How on earth did you set up your own work email that isn’t controlled and administered by your employer? And to set it up attached to your own personal email? Wow. Not smart. Not sure if what you said refers only to medical industries, but plenty of people here at my government job have their work emails automatically forwarded to their own private gmail. Our IT management allows that, doesn’t seem to be a big issue, though I don’t know if anyone who’s ever left the job has ever used it against the company. Personally, I have several work related accounts on vendor websites I’ve had to set up that requires an email. I think I have maybe one of them with my personal email. If I leave the job, I could basically hold that account. ---
**Author:** ![Inna\_Minnit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Inna\_Minnit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inna_Minnit)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-delete-my-work-email-account/684650/29 "2014-03-27T19:01:07Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Not sure if what you said refers only to medical industries, but plenty of people here at my government job have their work emails automatically forwarded to their own private gmail. Our IT management allows that, doesn’t seem to be a big issue, though I don’t know if anyone who’s ever left the job has ever used it against the company. > > Personally, I have several work related accounts on vendor websites I’ve had to set up that requires an email. I think I have maybe one of them with my personal email. If I leave the job, I could basically hold that account. HIPAA privacy laws are in play in the OP. Your job may indeed have other rules in place. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-delete-my-work-email-account/684650/30 "2014-03-27T19:57:32Z")
Sounds like bad practice in any industry - and particularly in government, where your emails might be public record. ---
**Author:** ![ThisUsernameIsForbidden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b4bc9f/32.png) [@ThisUsernameIsForbidden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisUsernameIsForbidden)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-delete-my-work-email-account/684650/31 "2014-03-27T20:46:55Z")
> [@](#): > > If one of our vendors gives me a free promotional pen, it is not my employer’s property by law (it may be by the terms of my employment contract, but there is no evidence of such an agreement here.) If I bring a notepad to work to help me handle my job duties, it doesn’t become my employer’s property unless I record proprietary information in it. The same is true of an e-mail account. This is one of the problems with discussions about law–common sense doesn’t tell you what the law is. Believe me, I had to look this up about a year ago because (I’m not mentioning any names here) someone was in a similar situation. The person had been terminated, but had a bunch of emails forwarded to another account he set up for work. The employer didn’t have access to the account. Of course, this varies by state, but in California, there is a law that states that anything acquired by way of employment is the property of the employer. Full stop. That was the rationale used by the employer and legal action was being taken. It never got to trial–the guy just sent the employer the emails and since the emails were no longer being forwarded that was the end of it. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-delete-my-work-email-account/684650/32 "2014-03-27T22:01:36Z")
You are talking about e-mails. Everyone else is talking about an e-mail _account_. ---
**Author:** ![ThisUsernameIsForbidden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b4bc9f/32.png) [@ThisUsernameIsForbidden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisUsernameIsForbidden)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-delete-my-work-email-account/684650/33 "2014-03-27T22:42:08Z")
The employer needs to have access to the account in order to access the emails, which they own. How do you envisage it will work out otherwise? The only alternative is to give all of the content on the server to the employer and then delete the account. But now the patients are getting bounced emails back. Do you see how that’s going to be a problem? ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-delete-my-work-email-account/684650/34 "2014-03-28T00:45:04Z")
> [@ThisUsernameIsForbidden](#): > > The employer needs to have access to the account in order to access the emails, which they own. How do you envisage it will work out otherwise? The only alternative is to give all of the content on the server to the employer and then delete the account. But now the patients are getting bounced emails back. Do you see how that’s going to be a problem? So what if it’s a problem? That’s whats been done here anyways. OP forwarded the relevant emails and it should be trivial to stop further emails coming to this account - I assume like others emails first went to an office address and then were forwarded to this personal address. Just turn off that forwarding. ---
**Author:** ![Inna\_Minnit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Inna\_Minnit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inna_Minnit)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-delete-my-work-email-account/684650/35 "2014-03-28T01:52:10Z")
If I understand, there never was work email. The OP created an account tied somehow to their personal email and used it on their own initiative. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-delete-my-work-email-account/684650/36 "2014-03-28T02:26:19Z")
> [@Inna\_Minnit](#): > > If I understand, there never was work email. The OP created an account tied somehow to their personal email and used it on their own initiative. My understanding as well. It’s still not clear to me (per the OP) how or why creating a co-mingled personal and work email combo account made more sense than having separate accounts. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-delete-my-work-email-account/684650/37 "2014-03-28T13:20:42Z")
She set up a separate account exclusively for work e-mail, but it was set up under _her_ name, not the employer’s. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-delete-my-work-email-account/684650.md?page=1)