Devin Smith

LEG 500 Law, Ethics, Corp Goverance

Dr. Terry Phillips
7/18/11

Explain where an employee can reasonably expect to have privacy in the workplace.
If there is a policy in place of the employer related to workplace including privacy issues that policy is legally binding. For example the employer may communicate that employees may enjoy privacy in certain demarcated areas of the office. The employee can enjoy privacy in those areas. According to Ethics in the workplace from a legal perspective employees can reasonably expect privacy in the bathroom and locker room. In such places video monitoring will not be accepted in a court of law. For instance, employers that wish to have an unquestionable right to look at or search for particular items and information kept on their premises should take every reasonable step to dispel any notion that their employers can expect privacy.(p.99-106) Employment manuals should make clear that the employer reserves the right to inspect and examine all areas of the workplace. There is no federal statute that provides general privacy protection in the private employment sector arena. However, in the federal case of Roe v. Wade, the United States Supreme Court held that there is implicit in the U.S. Constitution a right to privacy. A federal statute, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983, provides that anyone who, acting under color of law, deprives an individual of rights conveyed by the Constitution or laws of the United States shall be liable. This statute has been construed to allow individuals whose Constitutional rights have been violated by governmental employees to recover damages from those employees.
In the office workplace there are typically two types of workspaces, an open area, in which there are several desks and where conversations can be overhead, or an enclosed office, in which—when the door is