a claim that was not formally alleged in any of his pleadings. The court suggested that Smyth was alleging that there should be an exception to Pennsylvania's rule denying a wrongful discharge cause of action for at-will employees (based on estoppel) since Pillsbury had told Smyth and the other employees that their emails would not be intercepted and used as a basis for punishment and they had relied on those assurances to their detriment. This argument was dismissed, as the law in Pennsylvania is that an employer is not bound by estoppel when terminating employees, even when it can be shown that a promise was made and relied upon. Implications The Smyth decision has been followed in many different jurisdictions. The basic principle set forth, that employees do not have a privacy interest in their company emails, is the majority rule. An employee may have a reasonable expectation of privacy in emails sent from a private account using an employee's computer. For example, The Supreme Court of New Jersey found that there is a privacy interest in an employee's email communications with their attorney, via a private account, that outweighs an employer's interest in preventing unprofessional or illegal activity. References United States privacy case law 1996 in United States case law 1996 in Pennsylvania Pennsylvania state case law Law articles needing an infobox