One of the most recent cases involved a company in Montes
Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2025 6:47 am
“Using WhatsApp at work, especially in private groups, can lead to labor lawsuits,” explains Fabrício, who is also a professor and coordinator of the Information Systems course at the University Center of Excellence (Unex), in Feira de Santana.
Claros, Minas Gerais state, which was ordered by the 3rd Labor Court to pay the equivalent of three hours of overtime per day to its employee for orders given outside of work hours. "Furthermore, there are cases of harassment of employees in work groups through demands or embarrassing statements," explains the coordinator.
Even with encryption, the app lacks security for backups, chat exports, and files. This can raise shop other questions: What WhatsApp groups exist at your company? Who participates? Is anyone responsible for excluding former employees from the groups?
"Anyone with access to the tool can publish or copy confidential information, making it difficult for important files to remain under the company's control. In other words, using WhatsApp makes it virtually impossible to protect company data or comply with data protection obligations," he concludes.
Privacy Policies
One of the reasons for the debate over WhatsApp data confidentiality is the lack of clear privacy policies. Therefore, many companies are already beginning to migrate to their own messaging apps or Gmail chat, which allows managers to have greater control over the content of employee conversations.
"Companies need to invest in implementing a Data Governance and Information Security Program to comply with LGPD regulations. Furthermore, they need to consider healthy internal communication practices for the company with the entire responsible team," Fabrício argues.
Claros, Minas Gerais state, which was ordered by the 3rd Labor Court to pay the equivalent of three hours of overtime per day to its employee for orders given outside of work hours. "Furthermore, there are cases of harassment of employees in work groups through demands or embarrassing statements," explains the coordinator.
Even with encryption, the app lacks security for backups, chat exports, and files. This can raise shop other questions: What WhatsApp groups exist at your company? Who participates? Is anyone responsible for excluding former employees from the groups?
"Anyone with access to the tool can publish or copy confidential information, making it difficult for important files to remain under the company's control. In other words, using WhatsApp makes it virtually impossible to protect company data or comply with data protection obligations," he concludes.
Privacy Policies
One of the reasons for the debate over WhatsApp data confidentiality is the lack of clear privacy policies. Therefore, many companies are already beginning to migrate to their own messaging apps or Gmail chat, which allows managers to have greater control over the content of employee conversations.
"Companies need to invest in implementing a Data Governance and Information Security Program to comply with LGPD regulations. Furthermore, they need to consider healthy internal communication practices for the company with the entire responsible team," Fabrício argues.