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Your boss can now read your WhatsApp messages and any other private communications you send during work hours, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled.

Companies will be able to read the private messages thanks to a landmark case in Romania.

An engineer lost his job after sending messages to his fiancée and brother using Yahoo Messenger during work hours.

But the worker appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, who eventually ruled in favour of his employer.

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The judge, who made the ruling in Strasbourg, France, said that it was "not unreasonable that an employer would want to verify that employees were completing their professional tasks during working hours".

(Image: Getty)

It was claimed in court that the engineer's human right to privacy had been breached.

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However the court sided with the employer, despite bosses having gone through his private correspondence.

This means that all private communications, including WhatsApp or standard text messages, can be assessed by employers during your work hours even if made on a personal device, according to the ruling.