While former employees might have the right to claim access to physical personal belongings from their desk, such as photos or house plants, it's hard to argue that an employee has a legal right to something that has been mailed to them at work, Branter said. They may not feel it's relevant. Same routine as for a voluntary departure of if the person is terminated. But most of the time, an employee's company e-mail is not forwarded to any other address when they depart, Kovar said. At best, companies will provide an automatic forwarding e-mail address if requested by the departing employee.
Employers have reason to be wary.
Disgruntled ex-workers can sell client lists, spread confidential internal information to competitors or even sabotage corporate networks. Confidential information could be exposed and former employees could pretend to still be with the company. Keeping a company e-mail address is akin to letting them take home a stack of blank letterhead on their way out. There are exceptions, however. While an intern or temp might be barred from e-mail, a senior executive might be allowed to access personal files after leaving the company.