An employer is facing a possible lawsuit after an employee snooped through a co-worker’s e-mail.

Former Philadelphia-based news anchor Larry Mendte has plead guilty to a felony charge after being accused of accessing the private e-mail account of his co-anchor, Alycia Lane.

He read messages that contained details about a criminal case Lane was involved in and leaked the information — including info protected by attorney client privilege — to local media.

Mendte plead guilty after the FBI investigated the situation, and he faces possible jail time for the snooping. Lane has sued CBS, claiming Mendte passed the e-mails on to the station’s management to get her fired.

Employer liability?

The big question for HR: Can the company be held liable? So far it doesn’t look like it.

Though Lane was fired and Mendte admitted to snooping while at work, there’s no evidence that management ever saw the stolen e-mails or that anyone in the station knew about or condoned Mendte’s action.

However, if Lane can prove her suspicion’s, the company could be in big trouble.

IT security

Since the e-mails were read at the station, is there any way the company could have prevented it? Yes, most likely.

Mendte said he accessed the account by using keystroke logging software — a program placed on a computer that records every key that’s typed — to steal her password.

Keylogging applications are often inadvertently downloaded by employees, in a way similar to computer viruses. IT departments should be on the lookout for the programs, since they can also be used to steal employees’ bank account info and other sensitive information.