Employee Privacy
Employee Privacy Com/285 October 24, 2011 Employee Privacy Privacy practices vary from employer to employer, but overall most companies to have rules and regulations that employees must follow. The employees do have rights, but they as well as their employers must be aware of the laws regulating employee e-mail and internet privacy. Employees and Employers have common misconceptions about privacy in the workplace. The Best Western Plus in McCall, Idaho does not track the use of e-mails or internet use. However, the company does cover their rules of e-mail and internet use in the company handbook.
Employees are only allowed to access e-mail when it is related to the hotel. The hotel has a company e-mail which is used for intra-office communications as well as communications with guests and vendors. The only exception to this is if the management has a personal memo or other correspondence that they are sending to an employee. We are then informed to check our personal e-mail and respond accordingly. Internet use is prohibited if it is for personal use; it is only allowed when it is business related.
The company computers are for business use only and if an employee is found using them for personal reason, like surfing the web or using Facebook, that employee can be fired without further notice. Some of the employees are students and they are allowed to bring laptops for school purposes only. If they abuse the privilege in anyway they will no longer be allowed to bring their personal laptop to work. There are occasions when the management allows the employees to show each other personal items on the internet; but it is under management supervision.
Employee privacy rights depend on whether the employee works for the government or in the private sector. Most employees try to stand on the 4th amendment, but this amendment protects American citizens from the government. The 4th amendment does not necessarily have guidelines for the private sector when it comes to monitoring e-mails. Before a citizen can evoke their constitutional right with the 4th amendment state action must be taken. There are only eight states that have laws that have constitutions that protect privacy rights and offer employees more protection than the
United States Constitution does. However, the state constitutions are only for public employees and not for those of the private sector. Therefore, employers and employees must have knowledge of federal and state statutes and may need to look to common law to have complete understanding of the legal issues that come with monitoring employee e-mail. Congress has implemented the Electronics Communications Privacy Act of 1986 in response to the lack of privacy protection by the United States Constitution and the state constitutions.
A small number of states passed legislature that is similar to the ECPA, but none of the states have passed specific laws pointed at e-mail privacy rights. More and more employees are turning to common law to settle privacy matters with employers. However, it is difficult for the employees to meet all requirements set by the common law; so employers really have no reason to fear common law actions. Companies are using internet more and more for business purposes.
With the increased usage by the employees, companies are at risk for several reasons. As employees at all levels are using the internet, companies have an increased risk of lower productivity, intellectual property being stolen and misuse of company resources. According to an article on ehow. com employees spend an hour out of each work day on web sites that have nothing to do with their work. Intellectual property can be stolen if the companies business files are sent to unauthorized persons or if the files become infected with a virus.
The company can also obtain loss with physical office equipment; this can happen if computers get viruses that rendered the equipment no longer useable. Transporting data can become very expensive; companies can also cut internet costs by limiting internet use by the employees. The ehow. com article also stated that 60 percent of internet pornography is accessed during business hours, using the company internet. This poses a risk for companies, because if any employees are subjected to the pornography they can sue for sexual harassment.
This is a risk companies cannot take and implementing e-mail and Internet use policies allows companies to protect their business. Employees as well as employers have many misconceptions about privacy rights. One of the biggest misconceptions is those federal acts such as the Freedom of Information Act or the Privacy Act will prohibit a company from giving out personal information. As stated earlier in this paper these federal acts do not protect the private sector. These acts were put in place to protect federal employees.
Employers have to realize that their employees are possibly their most important asset and they should protect their employees’ personal information, just as they would their company information. Employees also assume that their e-mail is private and begin using it for personal use. What they do not seem to understand is that the company owns the computer, the Internet use and therefore owns the e-mails as well. On the other hand when it comes to something like phone calls the employer has to get permission from a court of law to record phone calls.
Employees should be aware of their state laws concerning privacy, and if their employer does not offer guidelines for company policy; the employee should ask for a copy of said policies. Employees have the right to protect themselves just as the company does. Employee information can fall into the wrong hands and then the employee has to worry about fraud and other issues. Policies put into place by companies to protect themselves do limit the activities that an employee does at work.
Employees may have to stay within guidelines set by the company, but the employee should protect themselves and know their rights under the laws of their state. Employers do have to be very careful when it comes to privacy issues and their employees; and they must seek legal consultation to stay within the law. In conclusion federal, state, and local legislation does provide some protection of invasion of privacy, including that of employers. Privacy rights are limited under this legislation as well as under common law and other statutes.
It is important to remember that laws vary from state to state. References https://www. privacyrights. org/fs/fs7-work. htm http://employeeissues. com/workplace_privacy. htm http://www. law. duke. edu/journals/dltr/articles/2001dltr0026html http://www. ehow. com/about_5503549_employee-privacy-rights. html http://www. referenceforbusiness. com/small/Di-Eq/Employee-Privacy. html http://www. ncsl. org/default. aspx? tabid=13463 http://www. twc. state. tx. us/news/efte/employee_privacy_rights_and_identity_theft. html http://www. ehow. com/about_6725819_do-email-internet-use-policies_. html
