...Employee Rights: Something Every Employee Should Know and Understand Jessica Rivera Western International University COM 110/Effective Persuasive Writing Lisa Hughes November 27, 2005 Employee Rights: Something Every Employee Should Know and Understand Currently, many employees take for granted the fact that they have more rights then just minimum wage, overtime pay, safe workplace, and equal opportunity rights. Many people do not take the time to access the resources needed to educate themselves on the rights they are entitled. By not knowing and understanding the importance of the employee rights, the employee in turn gives up their rights. Employees need to ask themselves, before reading this essay, do they fall into this category. If so, those employees should read further. If not, those employees should seek the necessary information about their rights to ensure that they know the rights that they are entitled. Employees must always acquire the knowledge concerning which rights they are entitled for their type of employment. There are so many valuable resources but too few really know where the search begins. When a person begins a new job, they must sign an acknowledgement stating that they understand the rights that they are granted as a condition of employment with their perspective employer. In many cases though, they do not fully understand that their signing of this document is an acknowledgement and an agreement of their...
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...the everyday lives of those that have access to the technology. Likewise, the technology is a valuable resource in the workplace and most companies provide computers, internet access, and email accounts in order to increase productivity. This valuable tool can also be a powerful distraction, however. These distractions often lead to inappropriate usage of the tools provided by the employer. “In a 2002 study by the Computer Security Institute, 78% of polled enterprises reported employee abuse of Internet access privileges by workers, including downloading pirated software or pornography, shopping on the Internet, and inappropriate use of email systems” (E-Monitoring in the Workplace 2006). This shows the magnitude of the problem that is facing many of today’s employers. The best way to prevent these problems is to provide a clearly stated online policy and to monitor computer mediated communication (CMC). CMC monitoring is the employer’s right and helps to ensure the protection of the company in addition to providing a valuable means to evaluating and improving employee behavior. A common argument against the use of CMC monitoring systems is that it is unethical and violates employees’ constitutional right to privacy. The fact of the matter is, however, that the employees, provided with computers, online access and email addresses by the employer, have no rights to personal use of the internet (Lugaresi 2010). If an employee is on his/her employer’s computer, internet connection...
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...In the workplace today, some employers adopt policies on romance at work to prevent uncomfortable situations that might arise between coworkers. In other workplace environments, some employers do not adopt any policy regarding this issue at all. Still some employers create other documents that address romance in the workplace. The issues describe above as well as the different ethical issues associated with Consensual Relationship Agreements will be discussed in the upcoming paragraphs below. There are many pros for the use of Consensual Relationship Agreements in the workplace. In a study by Parks in 2006, fewer than 15% of employers had a policy dealing with romance or sexual relationships in the workplace (Parks, 2006). The workplace has always been a major place for individuals to meet and learn about each other. This proximity may lead to attraction and romance, which in turn could make more problems for the organization. According to Clark (2006), “About 80% of employees may be involved in or know of a workplace romance” (p. 350). Some employers try to ward off sexual harassment charges and other problems stemming from office romances by having the employees who are romantically involved read and sign a consensual relationship agreement. According to Schwartz and Storm (2000), “A sexual harassment lawsuit can arise from either 1. A supervisor who has a habit of asking subordinates out of dates; 2. An employee who files a lawsuit after a consensual relationship...
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...Workplace Privacy: Privacy Rights in the Workplace Marisol Cortez National University Legal Aspects of Business I Law 304 Jack B. Hamlin, M.S., J.D. October 23, 2011 Abstract Workplace Privacy: Is an employer issued search of employer issued property to their employees a violation of the employees’ Fourth Amendment right of freedom from unreasonable search and seizure? This paper will examine the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court to the case of City of Ontario v. Jeff Quon that has provided a significant change of the views on workplace privacy law in this country. The majority of U.S. employees believe that it is their constitutional right to have reasonable workplace privacy. However, most U.S. employees are unaware that their constitutional right to privacy is contingent upon the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment’s rights to freedom from unreasonable search and seizure. This constitutional right is generally applied to state actions and they are at times limited to protecting only federal, state, and municipal employees. Furthermore, this paper will discuss the influences of Fourth Amendment jurisprudence to private sector employment because of the parallel common law standard of “reasonable expectations of privacy” which is the primary piece of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) the federal legislation suggesting employee privacy interest in prohibiting unlawful access and certain disclosures of contents in certain forms of communication...
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...statement The main problem that employees face in Carnival Cruise Line Company is a hostile environment. This hostile environment in Carnival Cruise Line Company is also a form of harassment. A good number of other employees in Carnival Cruise Line Company normally think that issues that bring about the hostile environment in the workplace include; bosses who are irresponsible, rude coworkers, privileges, benefits, the lack of perks, work environment that is unpleasant and even recognition. In most cases, to consider the workplace hostile, some lawful standards and policies are supposed to be met. The creation of this hostility in the work environment is mostly done by the boss or a colleague whose behavior, actions, and communications makes it impossible to perform the responsibilities of the workplace or the organization. With the traits portrayed by the coworkers and the employers, it can be concluded that he traits are responsible for changing the terms and conditions or the anticipations of the conducive and comfortable work environment for all employees. Moreover, in order for a work environment to be considered hostile, the traits and actions should show unfairness. An example is where an employee posts nude images or says sexual and explicit jokes is termed as guilty of harassing a fellow employee sexually (Mann & Goodman 2008). The employee is obligated to face legal actions by creating the hostile environment in the workplace. Overview of the alternatives A...
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...Workplace Computer Privacy Computer surveillance in the workplace is nothing new to people. It is commonly known that the employees are being monitored by the leader or boss. When computers and the Internet became prevalent, advanced surveillance increased. There are many employees monitoring software provided for employers to watch over employees' computers. The company administrators can monitor and supervise all of their employee computers including e-mails, chats, screens and even phone calls from time to time. Employees have few if any rights when it comes to electronic surveillance in the workplace. As Brown, Sonja D describes in the article “Naked at work: pssst! The boss is watching”, employees' right to privacy in the workplace is very limited. He asks a series of questions and presents us with several vivid scenes in the workplace, “Are there cameras in your workplace? Are the Websites you visit tracked regularly? Is someone else reading the e-mails you send and receive? How did your boss know that your three-day business trip with the company car was really two days at the client site and one day sightseeing?” (Brown, para. 2). Should employers monitor their employees' uses of these technologies? For the sake of liability, discoverability, productivity and protection of trade secrets and intellectual property, the answer is commonly yes. Can workplace privacy be ignored? Definitely not! The right to privacy plays a unique role in American law and society. Privacy ...
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..."Should employers be allowed to monitor personal communication of its employees?" Ellen Berkeley, Amy Davis, Shawn Molloy, Deborah O’Leary, Karey Raubenheimer BCOM 275 October 31, 2011 Professor Tom Melpolder Although organizations have monitored employees for centuries, a number of developments have greatly expanded the amount and scope of employee monitoring. For example, recent technological advances have dramatically altered the nature of work, the working environment, and employee–employer relationships. As a result, information technology has emerged as an integral part of today’s organizational infrastructure. These new technologies have the potential to improve worker efficiency and effectiveness. However, there are risks associated with any new technology including the potential for employee abuse resulting in negative consequences (Alder, Kuenzi & Schminke, 2008). Private communication such as e-mails and social media in the workplace has emerged as one of the stickiest legal issues of the electronic age” (Cappel, 1995). The debate is divided. One side believes that employers should not have full control over its employee’s personal communication. Their view is that employees should have the ability to communicate with friends and family while on breaks, as long as productivity isn’t affected. Further, they believe that employees have a privacy right and should be allowed to communicate while at work without being monitored...
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...Dania Afif El-Achmar The Rights and Ethics of Employees with Respect to Privacy at Work Widespread use of electronic communications media such as e-mail and information resources such as the Internet has prompted many employers 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...
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...Management Course Case Study # 01 Worksheet Workplace Violence Version 1.0: 07 Jun 2013 Presented by: Hossam Bashir I. Problem Definition: Workplace violence is violence or the threat of violence against workers. It can range from threats and verbal abuse to physical assaults and homicide, one of the leading causes of job-related deaths. However it manifests itself, workplace violence is a growing concern for employers and employees nationwide, representing a real challenge for employers to provide a safe working environement for employees. According to specialists, workplace violence falls into four broad categories: TYPE 1: Violent acts by criminals who have no other connection with the workplace, but enter to commit robbery or another crime. TYPE 2: Violence directed at employees by customers, clients, patients, students, inmates, or any others for whom an organization provides services. TYPE 3: Violence against coworkers, supervisors, or managers by a present or former employee. TYPE 4: Violence committed in the workplace by someone who doesn’t work there, but has a personal relationship with an employee—an abusive spouse or domestic partner. II. Justification to Problem Definition: Statistical data and reports proivde a clear evidence that workplace violence is a growing threat nationwide. * According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 18,104 assaults and 609 homicides occurred at workplaces throughout the United States in 2002. Such...
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...the three principal rights of workers. * The ministry of labour has introduced an occupational health an safety awareness program on November 15th 2013. This program provides fundamental information on rights and duties under the occupational health and safety act. Organizations must ensure that all workers and supervisors receive entry-level workplace health and safety training including rights and responsivities and the role of the joint health and safety committee. * The IRS (internal responsibility system), initiates that everyone in the workplace has responsibilities that ensure workers are safe. Every worker who sees a health and safety issue such as a hazard in the workplace has an obligation to report the situation to management. Once the hazard is identified, the employer and supervisor has a duty to look at the problem and eliminate any hazard that could injure workers. * Some of the responsibilities of the employers / supervisors is to recognize where there are potential hazards in the workplace, assess the hazard – supervisor need to understand how likely it is that a worker will get hurt or fall ill by the hazard, control the hazards to make the job safer, and evaluate how well the hazard controls are working. * Employers are also responsible for telling workers about hazards and dangers and responding to their concerns, showing workers how to work safely and making sure they follow the law, and the workplace health and safety...
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...Electronic Surveillance of Employees Professor Michael Hall Law, Ethic, and Corporate Governance- LEG 500 November 1, 2011 Explain where an employee can reasonably expect to have privacy in the workplace. You may think your United States employee rights authorize you to have a privacy workplace. People are wrong because, according to workplace privacy studies, the odds were good that your employer was monitoring all your internet actions, including your web pages and chat rooms (Niznik, 2011). If your company policy does not state there is a workplace privacy policy, your employer may watch, listen, and read just about everything in workplace area. Employers have the right to protect their business, their finances, and all of their equipment. The American Management Association (AMA) conducted a study of 526 employers which most use some type of electronic surveillance of the employees (Niznik, 2011). Many employers will deny they use any type of electronic surveillance however; the odds are good that your employer has “the eye,” watching your every move at work. Employers are not required to provide workplace privacy because your employers own everything you use at work. Your employers own the computers you work on, the telephones you talk on and the buildings in which you work. There are only a few weak employee workplace privacy right laws that exist. Since there are so few workplace privacy laws, it is legal for “the eye” to spy on you without your...
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...surrounding workplace monitoring and surveillance has intensified with the rapid digitization of the workplace. The ways in which we work, communicate and share information have forever changed. Employers are playing constant “catch up” with new technologies that are utilized on a broad scale long before policies are created to manage their impacts. Privacy issues often arise in connection with employer efforts to locate, hire and evaluate the most qualified and reliable employees. Improvements in technology, such as the rapid rise of the use of electronic mail and the increasing use of surveillance cameras, often force otherwise reluctant employers to readdress the balance between employees' privacy concerns and perceived business needs. In fact, nearly 67% of all companies currently use some type of surveillance in the workplace. According to a recent poll, “. . . over 66% percent of those surveyed had used the Internet from work in the past 24 hours.” (M.Lee Smith Publishers, Hospitality Workforce Trends, January 2000) In addition, when issues in his or her personal life impact an employee’s work, the employer must make judgments as to the appropriate level of involvement. Lastly, as traffic on the “information superhighway” continues to explode a number of substantive questions about the use and abuse of these information networks arises. What are the ramifications for employees’ right to privacy in the workplace? Does an employer have the right to search an...
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...detriments and implications of a workplace tainted with harassment issues, as well as to provide recommendations to assist organizations on how to avoid legal liability regarding harassment claims and how to achieve a harassment-free work environment. Drawing on scholarly sources, the report identifies three forms of harassment, which are bullying, sexual and racial harassment. It examines the differences in people’s perception of harassment in general as well as the factors influencing individuals’ experience of it. The report describes the risks for businesses experiencing harassment in the workplace; it examines the negative effects they can have on organizational environment, and its impacts on the organizations’ professional image. The findings of this report suggest that organizations can prevent and resolve harassment in the workplace by improving leadership and communication among employees, and by implementing and enforcing a clear and effective anti-harassment policy. The recommendations made in this report are to: * Provide basic guidelines on how to create and enforce effective human rights policies in organizations * Provide the necessary elements an effective anti-harassment policy should have * Provide adequate training and education programs for everyone at the organization INTRODUCTION Over the last years, there has been a rising concern over the issue of harassment in the workplace. Despite some employees may ignore or find harassment as...
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...Electronic Surveillance of Employees LEG500 – Law, Ethics, and Corporate Governance Instructor: Dr. C. William Dean Hasan Cayli Strayer University Abstract Explain where an employee can reasonably expect to have privacy in the workplace. 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 closed—conversations cannot be heard and where one would expect virtually total privacy. Explain whether it makes a difference if an employee is in an open area or in an enclosed office. Explain if Herman’s need to know whether his salespersons are honest is a sufficient ground for utilizing electronic surveillance. Explain to what extent an employer can engage in electronic surveillance of employees. Explain to what extent the inclusion of innocent, unaware third-parties in such surveillance determine whether it is legal. 1. Explain where an employee can reasonably expect to have privacy in the workplace. For employees there are a few legal protections regarding privacy in the workplace. However, employers can and should take proper steps to ensure that employees do not assume that they have unwarranted expectations. It has been decided by the Virginia General Assembly and upheld by the Virginia Supreme Court that it is prohibited to use another’s name or image for commercial advantage...
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...Smokism: The Right to Smoke Out Side the Workplace Smoking has been around as long as civilization has existed. Many people in this country look forward to smoking leisurely. Leisurely meaning when a person feels like smoking a cigarette they just pull the cigarette out, light it up, and smoke it. Although smoking in the United States has decreased in recent years cigarette smoking is legal and is enjoyed by many people. Smoking cigarettes has presented problems to many people in the United States. It has presented problems for those who choose to smoke as well as for those who do not. Many employers are allowed by law to ban smoking at the work place. Many employees won’t smoke at the workplace but will smoke off duty. Employers are closely monitoring employee’s lifestyle behaviors outside of the workplace. Employees are faced with many stresses as to what they can’t do outside of the workplace. Smoking outside of the work place has created tensions between anti-smoking employers, nonsmoking employees, and employees who do smoke. Many employers want to control and monitor the behaviors of employees who smoke during personal time away from work because of health insurance costs, frequent illnesses, and for the Maldonado 2 implementation of a healthier work place resulting in possible discrimination to employees civil rights. Although some employers may want to control employee behavior outside of the workplace, it may interfere with employees civil rights to privacy...
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