Employee Privacy in the Workplace
Employee Privacy in the Workplace Human Resource Management October 26, 2003 By Alichia Scott Employee Privacy in the Workplace I. The Law about Employee Email and Internet Privacy II. Is monitoring an employee an invasion of privacy? ... Balancing privacy rights of employees. ... Monitoring of employees at the workplace, either you side with the employees or you believe management owns the network and should call the shots. The purpose of this paper is to tackle whether monitoring an employee is an invasion of privacy. ... Why not to monitor employees, as well as tips on balancing privacy rights of employees at the job. ... (Employee Rights; http://archive. ... org) The American Civil Liberties Union believes that such abuses can only be prevented by extending, into the private workplace, the protections guaranteed in the Bill of Rights. ... The Law about Employee Email and Internet Privacy Courts have given employers the right to monitor their employee’s Internet and email usage. Employers can monitor what email is sent, when it is sent and to whom, as well as the messages that are received by each employee. Employers may also keep records of how long an employee is on the Internet and the types of activates that an employee engages in while on the net. Obtaining this information has lead to employee termination as well as law suits by employees claiming privacy infringement. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 applies to electronic monitoring. ... (The Electronic Communications Privacy Act 1986; http://wcuvax1. ... edu) One of the purposes of the ECPA is to make sure an employee is no stealing company funds and information such as trade secrets. The ECPA grants employers the right to monitor employee conversations if, “they occur during the ordinary course of business, or with employee’s implied consent. ... com) Is monitoring an employee an invasion of privacy? ... More than 20 percent of the companies said they “engaged in searches of employee computer files, voicemail, and email. ... (The Electronic Invasion of the Workplace Privacy, Worklife Report, 1995 Vol.9 Issue 5) The major issue of workers and worker organizations to obtrusive monitoring in the workplace are: • Monitoring is a basic violation of human rights and dignity, and is often carried out without adequate consideration. ... Virtually every aspect of an employee’s computer usage is capable of being monitored. ... Employers can see how long it takes an employee to get information for work from the web or whether the employee is using the internet for personal business. Emails that employee delete may not be gone for good. The messages that are sent and received can be captured and copied at an alternate location (on other computers or in a specific location on the employee’s computer) even after the employee thinks they have deleted the message. ... Ethical Reasoning and Electronic Monitoring Employers who use workplace monitoring software need to keep in mind Kant’s Categorical Imperative. ... If employers don’t notify employees of electronic monitoring, they are violating the employee’s human dignity and showing a lack of respect. ... The employer is then looking out for the good of the company as well as the employee. ... Employers desire to ensure that employees are doing their jobs Employers monitor to maintain a high level of efficiency and productivity as well as for liability purposes in situations such as sexual harassment, hostile work environment, and employee theft suits. By monitoring an employee’s email and internet usage, an employer can keep an eye on whether the employee is wasting time while at work, whether an employee is keeping up with the expected work pace, whether personal problems are affecting an employee’s work as well as to see how employees are taking breaks. ... Instead of clogging popes with Napster, traffic streaming videos, and day trading, companies can initiate employee monitoring or filtering to discourage excessive Internet use and perhaps save the cost of adding additional bandwidth. ... (Software Helps Ensure Net Privacy; Internet Week, 2001, www. ... com) If there were another way for companies to guard an enterprise from theft, employee misconduct and unauthorized use of company property, and provide quality assurance, the companies would find them. ... For instance, if an employee is searching the Web for medical information on a debilitating illness, he or she might wonder if that will turn up in the Human Resources files. ... For example, an employee might think if the company starts with monitoring my e-mail, will they listen to my phone calls? ... These are all valid workplace concerns because; employees have to feel comfortable at their jobs. ... Otherwise employers are opening themselves up to the possible privacy infringement claims. ... Balancing privacy rights of employees There has to be a balance between the privacy rights of employees, the need for system security, and management of the company resources. A company should have a policy with regards to protection of its employees’ privacy and it should be very detailed to employees about what the monitoring policy consist of.