employee privacy rights

[mznena]

Can someone please guide me when it comes to doing a essay on employee privacy rights in the workplace.

[Ouisch]

Please be more specific....what exactly do you require help with? Structuring an essay? What rights do employees have?

[mznena]

workplace surveillance and employee rights

[Tdol]

What's the exact title?

[mznena]

Well I am not sure how to put it.. I am mostly going to put it towards computer surveillance in the workplace.. Is it fair that employees are being monitor using the computers at work. If they should be allowed privacy on the computer during breaks.. I really need to find questions to ask so I can get a clear view on writing an essay on this issue. So if you can help me I will very much appreciate it.

[Ouisch]

The laws vary from state to state, but in most cases, as long as the employer advises the employee that he is being monitored, it is within the law. The site below has several links that might be of help to you.

Employee Workplace Privacy Rights

[Tdol]

There are very different views of this- the French take a much heavier line on protecting the employee and Britain tries to sit on the fence. For my sins, I attended a lecture on this a few months ago and there are very different views on the subject. In some European countries, an employer cannot even look at an employee's work email box without permission, so some feel that privacy over-rides any rights held by owning the machines or paying people. However, I feel that this simplifies the issue too much- there are legal responsibilities that come from allowing people to access the web, so there could equally be legal restrictions.

I think it would be a good idea to try to think where you think the line should be drawn:

If you ban all access or reserve the right to snoop, you may well have a disgruntled staff who feel they should be able to contact their family, etc, during their breaks. However, how would you feel about someone spending their lunchtimes surfing kiddie porn sites? Or spending the lunchtimes commenting in highly political blogs using an IP that comes from your company?
Where is privacy good? When making harmless communication- emailing family, checking air tickets, etc.
When is it harmful- anything that could damage the company

I think that this is a very difficult balancing act- I don't favour the extreme position in some European law in favour of privacy, but I also find some of the American positions equally unacceptable.

[BobK]

Another thing to think about is legal responsibility. In some countries, a company is liable (legally responsible) for what their employees write using the company's IT resources (even in the employee's free time). So the company could suffer if an employee says the wrong thing - like a private e-mail to a family member saying 'I guess we were at fault - this problem's been known about for years and the managers just ignore it.' That e-mail could be used in court as evidence of negligence - and in some countries the company is legally bound to keep it on record. .

Thinking about where to draw the line between corporate liability/security and personal privacy is never easy.

b

[Ouisch]

I should've specified that my response was strictly regarding employees in the US. Since the OP was studying at Axia or the University of Phoenix or whatever it is, I presumed that her essay would be limited to US employees. I should also add that no matter what the company's policy is, if you get yourself a savvy enough attorney, the rules don't apply to you.