Alex: If you wrote the letter during your lunch hour, or on a company approved break period, I would say the company has no rights at all. If you wrote it on company time, the company might not have a right to read it, but they probably would have a right to fire you.

And yes, I suspect if they wanted to, your employer could monitor your telephone calls as long as they are made on company time.

What is it about owing work to the company one works for during work hours that so many people in this thread don't understand?

The company provides (with exceptions I'm sure) a paid lunch period, and one or two breaks a day. If the company lives up to its agreement with the employee, and does provide them, why is it unreasonable to expect that the employee live up to his?

DougR