...practice of electronic employee surveillance at work. Provide specific examples to support your argument. What laws, if any, may be violated by such practices? I agree with the use of electronic employee surveillance in the workplace. I feel that in the current state of the country surveillance is needed for almost everything. The only places I believe it shouldn’t be used is the restrooms. The use of electronic employee surveillance at work should be placed in areas that need monitoring where theft may occur or immoral activities may occur. Depending on the company size or the type of industry, if an employee is not performing, I believe it could be noticed having supervisors and managers, surveillance may not be necessary. The privacy of employees may be violated with these cameras and so i believe it should be placed at areas that are necessary. The company i work for, only has two cameras because, once a fourth or more is placed, the company is required to hire a security to sit by these surveillance and monitor them, which is also costly. Some states have also passed laws that deal with workplace privacy, including the use of cameras and video equipment. In California, for example, it's a crime to install a surveillance mirror (one that can be seen through from only one side and looks like a mirror on the other) in a restroom, shower, fitting room, or locker room. In Connecticut, employers may not operate surveillance equipment in areas designed for employee rest or comfort...
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...Explain where an employee can reasonably expect to have privacy in the workplace. Is there truly such a thing as privacy in the workplace? In today’s society it is possible for companies to monitor every aspect of what employees do in the office environment, from email, surfing the Internet to phone conversations. Federal and state laws specifically address an employer's right and ability to monitor, save, record, access, or otherwise conduct surveillance of employees' use of company electronic communication resources and systems. Generally speaking, if an employer complies with the notice and consent requirements under these laws, and writes and distributes policies consistent with the laws, it will be difficult for employees to show a reasonable expectation of privacy in using company-owned electronic communication systems. But there are specific laws, rules, and regulations which grant certain employee privacy rights within the workplace. These laws govern Personnel records, social security numbers, monitoring and eavesdropping, medical records, drug testing, and background screening. Employees generally have a right to privacy in their personnel records, with exception of a few specific circumstances. This means that employers are generally not permitted to disclose personnel records of an employee to third parties without a legal obligation to do so or written consent from the employee's. The right can be found in state statutes, codes, or by judicial case law....
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...Electronic Surveillance of Employees Assignment # 1 By Diara Freeman Law Ethics and Corporate Governance Professor Michael Green April 23, 2011 Electronic Surveillance of Employees Explain where an employee can reasonably expect to have privacy in the workplace. The issue of privacy is a big concern in the workplace. With the expanding of new technology, many employees are concerned that their privacy rights are not being protected. Employers want to be sure their employees are doing a good job, but employees don't want their every sneeze or trip to the water cooler logged. That's the essential conflict of workplace monitoring. New technologies make it possible for employers to monitor many aspects of their employees' jobs, especially on telephones, computer terminals, through electronic and voice mail, and when employees are using the Internet. Such monitoring is virtually unregulated. Therefore, unless company policy specifically states otherwise (and even this is not assured), your employer may listen, watch and read most of your workplace communications. (Harlow, 1999) When an employee is hired at a new company, there are several security measures that are already in place in order to keep their personal information private and/or confidential. The first being in the Human Resources Department where all the information is gathered by the employee filling out various forms of that are confidential in nature. This information is kept in...
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...Explain where an employee can reasonably expect to have privacy in the workplace. Privacy in the workplace is very hard to get. Advancements in technology have been made that allow companies to monitor every aspect of an employee use of their systems. This is very evident if you have a job that involves you to be on the telephones. Companies are able to listen to each phone that is made, see every website that you have visited and read any email you have received. For example, I used to work at AMEX call center, and they were able to monitor each call through a system called N.I.C.E.. Through this system the company was able to monitor my calls for quality control reasons. However, if I made a phone call for personal reasons they were also monitored because they let me know that every call is monitored and it was at my own risk to use their phones to make calls. Also while working on the computers at work they were able to see whatever I saw. Since the employer owns the computer network and the computers, he or she is free to use them to monitor employees. Employees are given some protection from computer and other forms of electronic monitoring under certain circumstances. As far as email goes there are also basically no restrictions to what an employer can do. If an electronic mail (e-mail) system is used at a company, the employer owns it and is allowed to review its contents. Messages sent within the company as well as those that are sent from your computer to...
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...Employee Privacy Rights in the Workplace Vicki Puckett COM 120 Allyson Wells October 8, 2006 Do you think that your employee rights entitle you to workplace privacy? Well, think again. The fact is that most employers monitor their employee in one way or another. In the workplace, many employers are violating the privacy rights of their employees by surveillance, genetic testing, and sexual orientation. According to some workplace privacy studies, there is a good chance that your employer is monitoring your internet activities, including the Web pages you read, and messages you read and post in forums, blogs, and chat rooms. Your employer could also be spying on you in several other ways as well. Some may include recording your phone conversations, videotaping your every move within the company, and tracking your location with the company cell phone. Such monitoring is almost entirely unregulated. Therefore, unless company policy specifically states otherwise, your employer may listen, watch and record most of your workplace communications. The rapid growth of workplace monitoring and surveillance technology has far out paced the development of laws that protect worker privacy interests. Modern technology has provided employers with more advanced and effective means of monitoring their employees. As a result, electronic monitoring of employees in the workplace has become far more prevalent in recent years...
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...to engage in electronic surveillance of their employees. Employers are monitoring—and even recording—employees’ personal phone calls, e-mails, and workplace conversations. Video cameras are trained on employee parking lots, break areas, and other parts of the workplace. Today’s employers have the legal right to conduct search and seizure of employees’ personal property; monitor the employee’s telephone calls, workplace computer, Internet, fax use, and e-mail; perform employee drug testing; and conduct investigation and surveillance of employees. Electronic Surveillance The ethics of employee surveillance are problematic, because both the company and the employee have rights, and these rights can conflict. The employee owes the company a solid day’s work and protection of proprietary property and knowledge, but the employee can claim rights such as privacy, compensation for injury, freedom from harassment, and a living wage. Employees are often not aware of the fact that their e-mails are being read by their employers. Moreover, most employees are unaware of the extent to which their employers can and actually do monitor what they do. Studies indicated that worldwide, approximately 27 million employees workforce, are under continuous Internet or e-mail use surveillance at work, more than onefourth of the global online workforce consisting of employees that regularly use Internet and/or e-mail access at work. A concept that dramatically reduced employee rights was that of employment...
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...Electronic surveillance in the workplace Electronic Surveillance in the Workplace: Concerns for Employees and Challenges for Privacy Advocates Anna Johnston and Myra Cheng Paper delivered 28 November 2002 International Conference on Personal Data Protection Hosted by Personal Information Dispute Mediation Committee, Korea Information Security Agency Seoul, Korea Ms Anna Johnston is the NSW Deputy Privacy Commissioner. Ms Myra Cheng is a Research & Policy Officer with Privacy NSW, the Office of the NSW Privacy Commissioner. The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Dr Ben Searle, Macquarie University, in providing an overview of the relevant literature from the field of organisational psychology. Introduction This paper takes up the challenge of talking about privacy in the workplace - a site of potential conflict in which there may be co-existing radically different views on whether workers can or should have any expectations of privacy. As long as there has been employment, employees have been monitored. Nebeker D M & B C Tatum, "The effects of computer monitoring, standards and rewards on work performance, job satisfaction and stress" (1993) 23(7) Journal of Applied Social Psychology 508 at 508. However, in recent years, with an environment of affordable technology, the availability of less easily observable or detectable monitoring devices, and a lack of adequate regulation, there has been an explosion in the use of electronic monitoring...
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...Electronic Surveillance of Employees Jorge Munoz Strayer University Week Three Assignment # 1 Law- Ethics and Corporate Governance Professor Eric Baime July 17 of 2011 Assignment #1 – Electronic Surveillance of Employees View the video: “Electronic Surveillance of Employees” by clicking on the link in the course shell. There is also a link that will allow you to print the script of the video. Write a four to five (4-5) page report that answers the following: 1. Explain where an employee can reasonably expect to have privacy in the workplace. Reasonable expectation of privacy in the workplace can be addressed from many ways especially in this new age of technology where the use of Internet, e-mails, voicemails, etc., it has extended to every single aspect on the modern organizations. Employers have found ways to supervise the good doing of its employees monitoring virtually every digital trail leaving employees’ privacy rights in a limbo that is not completely clear under the law or even under the company policies. However, employees expect to have some privacy in the workplace during lunch and break times, restrooms or personal lockers without the eyes of security cameras, but this is not a rule. Electronic monitoring has become a commonplace and it is considered normal and employers have alleged that they have a legitimate purpose to do it especially after September 11 for obvious security reasons.. “The ECPA allows employers to listen...
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...ASSIGNMENT 1: ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE OF EMPLOYEES DATE: APRIL 18, 2011 Explain where an employee can reasonably expect to have privacy in the workplace. In accordance with the U.S. Constitution, the right to privacy for employees was granted under the First, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and the Fourteenth Amendment. Specifically, the Fourth Amendment guarantees the right of the people to be secure in their persons, hours, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures of a person or his or her belongings, without first showing probable cause, strong suspicions that a crime was committed, and obtaining an explicit warrant granting permission to conduct a search or seizure. (www.EmployeeIssues.com). It also provides protection for the “reasonable expectations of privacy” of both individual and corporate citizens against unwarranted and unreasonable government searches or seizures. Specific labor laws, regulations and certain rules are automatically granted to employees. Employers have the responsibility to protects privacy interest by avoiding the disclosure of personal matters. The laws that provide/create the right to privacy in employee personnel records, the use and maintenance of employee social security number, employee medical information, and background screenings. Government employees’ rights to privacy are limited and will be evaluated in accordance with a balancing test in which a Judge must decide which counts ore weightily, and employee’s...
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...1. Explain where an employee can reasonably expect to have privacy in the workplace. Let’s start off with what are some employee rights in the workplace. Employee Privacy Rights in the Workplace have brought two opposing points of view to the forefront for employers. When dealing with privacy issues in workplace situations, employers are duty bound to maintain an environment that is not hostile to workers. “The courts have passed laws concerning race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, gender, social or economic background, and religion that the employer increasingly has to observe and respect (you can learn basic employee rights.com).” According to Jason from safeandsavy.com, some experts have assumed that employers reserved the right to read private email generated on work computers, even if it was not stored on company servers. However, the times may be changing. A recent ruling by the New Jersey Supreme Court in Stengart v. Loving Care might hint at a new precedent. According to Ngo, “The N.J. court ruled that employer Loving Care had violated employee Marina Stengart’s privacy by reviewing copies of e-mail sent to her attorney that were left on her work-issued computer because the e-mail had been sent from a personal, password-protected Webmail account (safeandsavy.com).” Do employers really want to be monitoring private emails on work computers, especially when employees can easily pick up their smart phones to email away? The Loving Care decision may not hold...
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...Employee Handbook In this Employee Handbook, you will find our policies and procedures that are put in place to benefit both the employer and employee. The employee rules apply to all our employees and must be followed to maintain employment with the company. It will also cover the consequences and procedure that are in place to deal with any violations of the handbook. As with all things, we reserve the right to make changes as we see fit with proper notification to all employees. We may revise, add, or delete as necessary. If you need more information regarding anything in the handbook, please contact your Human Resource Manager. Privacy Rights Addressed Privacy will be honored on both the employer and the employee. All confidential material, such as your personnel file or payroll, will be kept private and only the necessary employees will have access. Any information that is released will be done on a need to know basis only. As an employee, it is your responsibility to maintain the privacy of our clients and any information you may receive throughout the workweek. You will also have information about our daily operations. These also are not to be shared with anyone. Depending on your position with our company, you may receive confidential information regarding other employees that is not to be shared with others. It is of highest importance that privacy is maintained during all aspects of work. Privacy Rights & Privacy Protection ...
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...such crimes; and to prevent the destruction of vital records at this credit union’s main office and each branch office. Approval by Board of Directors The Board of Directors at its regular meeting on _______________ adopted this program, and it was entered into the minutes of that meeting. Program Administration 1. Initial development of a written security program and subsequent modification of such security program as circumstances or revised federal regulations may require. 2. Implementation of security procedures and internal controls prescribed by the security program. 3. Selection, testing, maintenance and operation of security devices prescribed by the security program. 4. Protection of vital records at each credit union office. 5. Provision for the initial and periodic training of employees in their responsibilities under the security program, and in proper employee conduct during and after a robbery, burglary or larceny. 6. Monitoring the effectiveness of the security program at each credit union office and conducting periodic security audits at each office. 7. Consultation with local law enforcement agencies to develop coordinated robbery and burglar alarm response plans for each credit union office. There will be an annual review by the Board of Directors on the implementation, administration and effectiveness of the security program at each credit union...
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...rules. Some privacy rights are relevant in the workplace and some don't. And even if there is no particular law, a right to privacy can be based on the legal common law notion of having a "reasonable expectation of privacy”, (Lippke, 1998). For employers and employees in the business industry, privacy concerns have become progressively more widespread in the workplace, and with the increased use of electronic resources, privacy at work is even more compound. Consequently, it is imperative that both supervisors and managers have a fundamental understanding of some of the more common privacy rights and issues that can arise, as well as the restrictions that may apply. Some of the more prevalent privacy issues that employees face are drug testing, email monitoring, personnel records, social security numbers, monitoring and eavesdropping, back-ground screening, and medical records. Because of these issues, there are quite a few areas of human capital management in which privacy rights are recognized. Whether these laws put in place by state, federal or local authorities, both employers and employees should be attentive to the issues and how to protect themselves from infringing on other’s rights to privacy or having their rights to privacy being infringed upon (Gross). The use of email by employees during business hours is a normal occurrence in the 21st century American workplace. A recent...
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...Employee Privacy and Discipline Adrian Perez Alejandro Perez Gustavo Montemayor Yesenia Sanchez Texas A&M International University In all parts of the world good discipline, in the workplace, results in good conduct. Discipline, in definition, allows for the instruction of employees to act in accordance to the rules of an organization. In the workplace we have always had employers enforce the concept of discipline for one major reason, proper work behavior. However, when it comes to out-of-work discipline, the circumstances become more difficult for employers to manage. The following will focus on the out-of-work behaviors of the employees when illegal and legal actions take place and whether employer discipline applies. First, we concentrate on the out-of-work illegal behavior. Employees work does not always represent or justify their out-of-work actions or their out-of-work actions do not always represent or justify their work. When concentrating on the illegal actions of an employee, employers must first determine whether the crime committed can or will affect the company, co-workers, and/or customers. If the employee commits a crime in which jail time is granted employers really do not struggle in terminating this employee. If it does not result in jail time the employer must justify that the employee who committed the crime is in fact in a position where his actions portray any potential risk to the company and therefore could be terminated for the employee’s...
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...1.0. INTRODUCTION The term ethics comes from the Greek word “ethos” which mean character or attitude and personality. Some philosopher defined that ethics as one of the research towards morality and some said that ethic is also the behavior principles that control the individuals or profession as a standard in making decision or action. For the technocrat group, ethics is linked with study on standard of morale issue. Ethics played an important role in a person life because ethics really show the person morale whether its good or bad. Ethics have many theories that explained the principles that can be used in designing the good personalities in oneself. One of the important theory is the Consequentialist Theory, The Consequentialist Theory is divided into many theories such as the egoism and utilitarianism ethics. We should learn about ethics in our daily lifes and anywhere we are. 2.0. THE VALUES IN ETHICS RESOURCES There are four (4) resources in the value of ethics. The resources are religion, philosophy, the culture experience and also law.. 3.1. Religion Religion is the main and oldest resources in the values of ethics. Religion played an important role in building the ethics value in oneself and as well as the organization. For the individual that are Muslim, they are tied with the ethics value that is stated in the holy Quran which was left behind by the prophet Muhammad which was written in the hadith. Whereas other religion they are also tied to their...
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