...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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...& family 02 Consultation & cooperation in the workplace 03 Use of individual flexibility arrangements 04 A guide for young workers 05 An employer’s guide to employing young workers 06 Gender pay equity Best Practice Guide Workplace privacy 07 Small business & the Fair Work Act 08 Workplace privacy 09 Managing underperformance 10 Effective dispute resolution 11 Improving workplace productivity in bargaining 12 Parental leave Working at best practice Employers should implement best practice when it comes to maintaining privacy in the workplace. It is important for employers, employees and their representatives to know what information may be collected and retained by employers and whether it can be passed on to others. Best practice creates certainty and security for both employers and employees. There is also a checklist to assist with achieving best practice on workplace privacy. This guide illustrates best practice when it comes to workplace privacy. For more specific information regarding your minimum legal obligations and entitlements, contact the organisations listed under the ‘For more information’ section at the end of this guide. This Best Practice Guide explains: what is privacy what is workplace privacy general privacy principles obligations when information is provided to third parties, particularly when given under the Fair Work Act 2009 (FW Act) privacy in relation to email and the internet. Fair Work...
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...Electronic Surveillance of Employees Mitchell D. Upchurch Anthony Robinson Law, Ethics, and Corporate Governance- LEG 500 January 17, 2011 Privacy in the Workplace Explain where an employee can reasonably expect to have privacy in the workplace. Privacy in the workplace can reasonably be expected in three general areas as it relates to the employer, co-workers, clients and customers. 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 the employee’s private, confidential employee folder in the Human Resources Department, generally in a locked cabinet or other secured areas. This ensures that no one other than the Human Resources Department can get access to the information other in the file. At times, special permission is granted for a manager to review the file for a specific reason, along with the Human Resources representative. The second place where an employee can reasonably expect to have privacy is in the computer mainframe where all the pertinent records (such as social security number, address, date of birth, banking information, etc.) are stored. This is used primarily for an employee’s timekeeper administration and government...
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...employees often have conflicting interests in the workplace. One of these conflicting interests concerns the privacy rights and considerations of the employees versus the rights of the employer to monitor the activities of its employees. A relaxed, comfortable workplace promotes good morale but too much comfort can result in a workforce that takes their responsibilities for granted. Achieving a happy medium is the ultimate goal. The development of modern technology has provided employers with increased opportunity to monitor the activities of their employees both on the job and off. Telephone, computers, voice mail, and the internet have provided employers with vehicles that were not available just a decade or so ago. Because of the newness of such devices, regulations and laws governing the use of them are not well developed. As a result, at the present time, employers are enjoying virtually unfettered opportunities to listen, watch, and read most anything and everything that their employees are doing while at work. Some more aggressive employers are even using such devices to do the same in regard to their employees’ private lives as well. In limited cases, some corporations and businesses have enacted policies limiting such interventions by the company but there are very few such companies. The concept of privacy is complicated. What is private for one person may not be for another and when it comes to privacy in the workplace the issue becomes even more complicated. From a...
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..."Privacy. There seems to be no legal issue today that cuts so wide a swath through conflicts confronting American society: from AIDS tests to wiretaps, polygraph test to computerized data bases, the common denominator has been whether the right to privacy outweighs other concerns of society…" This quote from Robert Ellis Smith explains, in one sentence, the absolute need to ensure privacy in the workplace. One of the most interesting, yet controversial, areas concerning public personnel is employee privacy. What limits are there to employers’ intrusions into, and control over, employees’ behaviors and personal properties? There are five major areas which trigger privacy matters in the area of public sector employment: background checks, cognizance of off duty conduct and lifestyles, drug testing, workplace searches, and monitoring of workplace activity. Of these five, the fifth area of privacy, monitoring of workplace activity, is the most controversial. The reason for this is the advance of technology. These conflicts open anew the basic questions as to what is private, what is propriety, what legal rights an employee possesses, and what an employee’s obligations and responsibilities are within the sphere of public employment. Privacy has been defined as "the claim of individuals, groups, or institutions to determine for themselves when, how, and to what extent information about them is communicated to others". The privacy claims of employees can vary in terms of the...
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...Surveillance Of Employees 1-Explain where an employee can reasonably expect to have privacy in the workplace. As we all know the traffic the "information age" is continuing to explode in a number of ways, which leaves us with the questions about the use and or abuse of these information system networks. One of the main issue and of primary concern is whether the current law provides adequate protection for the employee’s right to privacy in the workplace from threats posed by computer technology, electronic video and sound recording equipment, and databases filled with personal information. I will look at some of the guidelines to privacy in the workplace. Most employee privacy constitutional rights are automatically established and protected by specific labor laws, regulations and certain rules to follow, especially when it pertains to employment. Privacy laws already exist in our society today to protect the one employee privacy of over their personnel records, some other concerns of privacy is the recording and storing of employee personal data, such as medical information and health status, social security numbers, background screenings information, financial and anything that could cause an employee harm. So far there is no specific statute or code that creates the rights to privacy, when there is a discussion on the subject the employer always argues about gaining...
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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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...Is there such a thing as privacy in the workplace? In today’s world of technology the simple answer is no. From the moment you pull into the parking lot, or you walk into the lobby, and often times even in your workspace you are being monitored with surveillance cameras. It often starts even before that, during the hiring process with background checks, character checks, credit checks, viewing of social media profiles, drug testing, inappropriate questions regarding family members, and even psychological screenings. Any of these can throw up a red flag in getting hired, and can even effect your job after if inappropriate material is posted on a media site that presents you in a negative manor. Some financial institutions will not hire you if...
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...INTRODUCTION Controversy 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...
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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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...Factual / Analytical Speech Privacy in the workplace Have you heard of arecent incident of a man who made nearly $3 million in less than two years by filing tax returns for other people? He was able to achieve that simply by obtaining people’s information from companies who were more than willing to give it to him in exchange for money. The advent of technology (email and the Internet) has allowed companies to immensely reduce operating costs, speed up most tasks and increase their efficiency. (Allowed companies to immensely reduce operating costs through automation of human tasks, facilitate communication on innumerable levels, clearly increase efficiency in almost all tasks, allow for geographic and other business expansion, and less obviously, even reduced the amount of real estate and inventory that companies require) Among one of the advancements has been an explosion in technology designed to aid employers in monitoring their employees…. It has helped them easily review the workers’ conduct and performance and to ensure that none of their confidential information are being leaked out into public. While this technology can be lauded for the ways in which it has helped business, it also raises a concern that previously did not exist. The issue is that employees come to work with an expectation of a certain degree of privacy and most of the time they are not aware that the company has the right to monitor their every move. The reality is that while at work, except...
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... 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 consent or your awareness. The only time an employee should have privacy at work is when they are changing their clothes or using the bathroom...
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...common practice in some workplaces. This procedure can be accomplished through e-mail, telephone, camera, internet and other electronic surveillance monitoring systems. This procedure was designed to be used solely for business purposes. In many instances employees have been made to feel as if their privacy has been invaded. Upon implementing such practices employers and employees both have a need to be knowledgable of any policies permitting the use of monitoring devices and to know their rights. Research The Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA) is the only federal statute that offers workers protections in communications privacy. ECPA prohibits the intentional interception of electronic communications. However, the ECPA contains loopholes that facilitate employee monitoring. First, employers are permitted to monitor networks for business purposes. This enables employers to listen in on employee phone calls or to view employees' e-mail. Employers may not monitor purely personal calls, however, in order to determine that a call is personal, employers usually have to listen to portions of the employee's conversation. Second, an employer may intercept communications where there is actual or implied employee consent. Consent has been found where the employer merely gives notice of the monitoring. An example of a case in which the courts ruled in favor of the employee: Stengart v. Loving Care Agency, Inc. New Jersey Supreme Court Upholds Privacy Claims. The New Jersey...
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...Electronic Surveillance of EmployeesExplain Where an Employee Can Reasonably Expect to Have Privacy in the WorkplaceAlthough the law on employee privacy rights is still developing, various federal and state laws limit and define what employers can do when monitoring their employees (Dillon, Hamilton, Thomas, & Usry, 2008). Under federal and most state law, there are areas where an employee has a “reasonable expectation of privacy” in the workplace. Generally, privacy in the workplace can reasonably be expected in the following three general areas.First, the area of where employees can reasonably expect to have privacy from their co-workers is in their private workplace areas. Courts generally recognize a reasonable expectation of privacy as to an employee’s exclusive private office, desk, and file cabinets containing personal matters not shared with other workers (Wilson, 2006). Second, in highly private areas such as restrooms, break lounges, locker rooms, and places designated for health or personal comfort, courts have generally recognized employees’ reasonable expectations of privacy. The main reason is that activities carried out in these places are things that are not normally done in public. They are private acts, and the employee has a reasonable expectation of privacy during these activities. Finally, different kind of privacy that an employee can reasonably expect in the workplace would be of their personal records such as their background, health status, social security...
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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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