>- my understanding is that companies are specifically allowed to monitor employee e-mail. The reasoning is that employees might be using company resources for spamming, porn, etc.
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>- since we *are* Canadian up here, we probably can't go too deeply into chapter & verse on specific statutes. < g >

"Company" E-mail is not the same as "regular" e-mail. There is very little that is "private" when performed on company premises. Anything performed on company premises that is "personal", can be categorized as "theft of services". Possession is 9/10ths of the law. The former employee in question may very well be liable (in the future) to some charge related to "denial of services/access" or other malicious behaviour. A standard exit clause is to turn over everything that "belongs" to the company.