Is a company phone that is left in the office, and that has been accessed by every employee there considered a private phone? I found messages that include my boss/owner of the company suggesting we have a slap contest because myself and a coworker are “not smart”. This was sent to the office guy who has a history of anger issues. Under the direction of a higher up I took screenshots of the messages and we confronted the owner who denied and said as little as possible. Fast forward and couple of days and i get fired for accessing the phone. My 2 questions are, was it illegal for me to have accessed the office phone? And is it okay for an owner and a coworker to joke about those things!?