Shadowing Practice: Never Do These 4 Things On Your Work Computer (Lawyer's Warning) - Learn English Speaking with Video

If you've ever signed into iMessage on your work laptop, your employer can read every text you send.

I'm an employment lawyer and I've watched workers hand their employer the evidence to fire them

and the evidence to beat their lawsuit all from a company laptop.

So here are four things you should never do on your work computer.

And stick around for the last one because it's something workers do to protect themselves, and in many states it's actually a crime.

The first thing you should never do on your work computer is sync your personal messaging accounts.

This happens all the time and most people don't even realize they're doing it.

You sign into iMessage on your work MacBook.

You open WhatsApp on your desktop.

You log into your personal Gmail and click stay signed in.

It's convenient.

Your phone buzzes and you can answer right from your work computer.

But here's what you just did.

You took your private conversations with your spouse with your friends with your co -workers maybe even your lawyer

and you copied them onto a machine your employer owns

and here's the rule you need to remember you generally have

no right to privacy on a work computer most employers have a policy buried in their handbook

that says the company can monitor and access anything on their device

when a policy like that exists courts generally find you had no reasonable expectation of privacy on

that device and depending on how your company sets up its systems, your company's IT department may be storing those messages.

Now, if you bring a lawsuit, your employer can ask for your relevant messages during the lawsuit in a phase of the lawsuit called discovery.

But there's a huge difference.

When your messages live on your phone, your employer has to request them through the legal process.

The request has to target relevant information, and your lawyer can object and fight to protect things that are private or privileged,

like your conversations with your attorney with your spouse or things

that have nothing to do with the lawsuit

so a lot of times we get requests for messages

and we say no we aren't producing those they have nothing to do with this lawsuit

but when your message sits on their laptop they skip all of

that they already have the messages they can read everything the relevant

and the irrelevant the personal

and the embarrassing before you've even filed a case they can comb through your conversations looking for anything

that makes you look bad anything that contradicts your story

or anything they can use as a reason to fire you

so here's what you need to do instead keep your personal

accounts completely off your work computer no i message no whatsapp no personal email

if you've already synced them turn the syncing off immediately going forward and

if you already think you might have a legal claim talk

to a lawyer before you start deleting anything off of that computer i will explain why in just a minute.

The second thing you should never do is treat private Slack or Teams messages like it's actually private.

And this is true no matter where you view it.

Your work computer, your personal computer, your phone, whatever.

Those messages live on your employer's system.

People think that a direct message with a co -worker stays between the two of them, but it doesn't.

Private on Slack or Teams means your other co -workers can't see it.

It does not mean your employer can't see it.

On business versions of Slack, company administrators can export messages, including direct and private messages.

In Microsoft Teams, your chats get stored in the company's Microsoft systems, and the company can search them using a built -in tool designed for exactly this purpose.

And hitting delete on your end does not delete anything from the company's system.

Company retention settings keep a copy of a message you think you erased, and employers use these messages.

This isn't a hypothetical.

I see it in my cases.

A worker vents to a work friend on Slack, I'm so done with this place, I'm barely even trying anymore.

Or they crack a joke about their manager.

Then months later, that worker complains about something protected like discrimination and gets fired.

And the company's lawyers pull the entire Slack history and put those messages in front of the jury.

And they say, look, the employee said it herself.

She wasn't even trying.

She deserved to be fired.

So here's what you need to do instead.

Treat every Slack and Teams message like your employer is reading it, because they will.

Keep it personal.

If you need to vent, do it in person off the company systems with someone you trust.

But there's a flip side too.

These systems cut both ways.

If your manager sends you a discriminatory or retaliatory message on Slack or Teams, the company has that message too.

And it has a legal duty to preserve it once a lawsuit is on the horizon.

So let the record work for you, not against you.

Make a note about when you receive the message, that way you can ask them to produce it later if you bring a lawsuit.

The third thing you should never do is to wipe your work laptop on your way out the door.

I know this one is counterintuitive, but here's the scenario.

You're leaving your job and the company asks you to return their laptop.

And you think, my personal photos are on there, my messages, my browser history, some things I said about my boss.

So before you hand it over, you do a factory reset.

It feels like cleaning out your desk.

But it's not.

In the legal world, it can look like you intentionally destroyed evidence.

Here's why.

Once a person reasonably anticipates a lawsuit, the law requires them to preserve evidence that relates to it.

Destroying that evidence is called spoliation.

And when a court finds that someone destroyed evidence in that way, it can punish them.

For example, the judge can tell the jury it may assume the destroyed evidence would have hurt the person who destroyed it.

Usually workers use that rule against employers, but when you wipe your laptop, you hand your employer that weapon.

And it gets much worse if there's other evidence that you were already planning to bring a lawsuit.

Maybe you'd already talked to a lawyer, maybe you told a co -worker you were going to sue, maybe you'd filed a complaint.

Now the timing looks terrible, even if you had a completely innocent reason to do it.

And this actually happened in one of my cases.

My client did a factory reset before returning her laptop.

The employer got the computer back, saw that it had been wiped, and claimed my client had destroyed evidence.

It didn't lose us the case, but it created a huge headache in the litigation.

Because suddenly the case wasn't about what the employer did, it was about what my client did.

What was on that computer?

Why did she delete it?

What was she hiding?

And that's the real danger with these things.

Your case should be about what the employer did, not what you did don't give them something

that lets them put you on trial instead of them

so here's what you need to do instead return the laptop

exactly as is don't delete files don't reset it don't clean it up

100

if you're worried about personal stuff on

101

that computer that's exactly why rule number one matters keep it off the computer in the first place

102

and if you're thinking about bringing a legal claim call an employment lawyer before returning

103

that laptop because there are some things you can do.

104

And finally, the one I promised you at the start, this is the one people do because they think they're doing a good thing.

105

Never secretly record your boss or your co -workers.

106

Now, Teams and Zoom tell everyone when you hit record, so that's not secretly recording anything.

107

To secretly record, people get creative.

108

They run screen recording software in the background, they open a voice memo app during a meeting, they set their phone on their desk next to their laptop.

109

And I understand why.

110

You know your boss is mistreating you.

111

You're afraid nobody will believe you.

112

You want proof.

113

And many of my clients have done exactly this, thinking they were saving evidence of their employer's wrongdoing.

114

But here is the problem.

115

In many states, secretly recording a conversation is actually illegal.

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States including California, Washington, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania follow what's called the two -party consent rule.

117

That means you need consent from everyone in the conversation before you record it.

118

Here in Washington, secretly recording a private conversation is actually a misdemeanor.

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It's a crime.

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And a court generally won't let you use the recording as evidence anyway because it was illegally obtained.

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And even if you are in a state without the two -party consent rule, you're not in the clear.

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Many employers have policies that ban recording at work, so you may have just handed them a reason to fire you.

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And if you're on a video call with someone in another state that has a stricter rule, those rules apply.

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So instead of creating evidence, you've created a brand new legal issue and you've put yourself right in the crosshairs.

125

Once again, the case becomes about what you did instead of about what they did.

126

And I made a whole video about when it's illegal and when it's legal to secretly record people.

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It's called, Can You Record People Without Their Permission?

128

And I'll leave a link to it in the description below.

129

But a good rule of thumb is simple.

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Just don't do it at work.

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So here's what you do instead.

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Preserve evidence other ways.

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Keep a journal write down what happened right after it happened, with the dates, the times, who was there, and what they said.

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Send confirming emails.

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For example, thanks for meeting with me today.

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I want to confirm that you told me I wasn't getting the promotion because the team needs someone with more energy.

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Make written complaints that explain everything clearly.

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And keep your journal on paper or on a personal device, not on a work computer.

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A written record is always better anyways.

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It's legal, it's time -stamped, and when you write it right, it tells your story the way you want to tell it.

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So there you have it.

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Those are the four things you should never do on a work computer if you want to protect your legal rights.

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Now, I'm curious, what's the worst thing you've seen someone do on their work computer?

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Let me know in the comments below.

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And if you want to know more about protecting yourself, watch my video, Never Send These Four Texts to Coworkers.

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I break down exactly how your private messages can destroy your legal case before it even starts.

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It's the perfect follow -up to this video.

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And if you found this video helpful, please give it a like and follow my channel.

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I make videos about the laws to protect workers.

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The more we hold employers accountable for the wrongdoing, the more we protect other workers.

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That's all for me this week.

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See you next time.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “Never Do These 4 Things On Your Work Computer”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: message, employer, computer, evidence, worker. This video has 152 sentences and 1924 words to shadow. The speech runs for 9:37. The speaker talks fast, about 200 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 86% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
employer noun	/ɪmˈplɔɪə/	A person, firm or other entity which pays for or hires the services of another person.
worker noun	/ˈwɝ.kɚ/	One who works: a person who performs labor for a living; traditionally, especially, manual labor.
laptop noun	/ˈlæp.tɑp/	A laptop computer.
lawsuit noun	/ˈlɔˌs(j)ut/	In civil law, a case where two or more people disagree and one or more of the parties take the case to a court for resolution.
secretly adverb	/ˈsiː.kɹɪt.li/	In secret, covertly.
delete verb	/dɪˈliːt/	To remove, get rid of or erase, especially written or printed material, or data on a computer or other device.
consent verb	/kənˈsɛnt/	To express willingness, to give permission.
preserve verb	/pɹəˈzɝv/	To protect; to keep from harm or injury.
wipe verb	/waɪp/	To move an object over, maintaining contact, with the intention of removing some substance from the surface. (Compare rub.)
sync noun	/sɪŋk/	Harmony.
reset verb	/ɹiːˈsɛt/	To set back to the initial state.
desk noun	/dɛsk/	A table, frame, or case, in past centuries usually with a sloping top but now usually with a flat top, for the use of writers and readers. It often has a…
confirm verb	/kənˈfɝm/	To strengthen; to make firm or resolute.
privacy noun	/ˈpɹaɪ.və.si/	The state of being secluded from the presence, sight, or knowledge of others.
complaint noun	/kəmˈpleɪnt/	The act of complaining.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
break down verb		To stop functioning.
clean out verb		To clean, especially to tidy by removing the contents.
going forward adverb		In the immediate future and beyond.
set up verb	/ˌsɛt ˈʌp/	To make ready for use.
write down verb		To produce or set (something) down in writing; to record something.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

Those messages live on your employer's system.
It does not mean your employer can't see it.
You're afraid nobody will believe you.
That's all for me this week.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	you've ever signed · I've watched · you've even filed
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	be fired · is called · had been wiped

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 38 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, you're, you've. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: thumb /ˈθʌm/, hypothetical /ˌhaɪpəˈθɛtɪkəl/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: promotion /pɹəˈmoʊʃn̩/, discrimination /dɪskɹɪmɪˈneɪʃən/, expectation /ˌɛk.spɛkˈteɪ.ʃən/, punish /ˈpʌnɪʃ/, litigation /ˌlɪtɪˈɡeɪ̯ʃən/
Long words — get the stress right: discrimination /dɪskɹɪmɪˈneɪʃən/, administrator /ədˈmɪn.ɪ.stɹeɪ.tɚ/, reasonably /ˈɹiː.zən.ə.bli/, expectation /ˌɛk.spɛkˈteɪ.ʃən/, irrelevant /ɪˈɹɛləvənt/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like employer, worker, laptop.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

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