Keeping Memos For The State Of Texas

once again brought to light the various concerns and complaints that this contentious area inevitably generates.  The idea of monitoring employees’ conversations has a certain Orwellian darkness that encourages accusations of privacy invasion and corporate spying.  Indeed, some companies have taken this too far – some reportedly even requesting their employee’s Facebook login details.  However, by and large the concept of employee monitoring – when done appropriately – seems to me to be relatively

Did you know that 58% of employers have fired workers for Internet and email misuse? And 48% justify employee video monitoring as an effort to “counter theft and violence?” According to the “2007 Electronic Monitoring & Surveillance Survey” of which 304 U.S. companies participated in, computer-monitoring results have led to the highest cause of employee termination. These companies used several tactics to eavesdrop on employees while claiming to be managing productivity or for security purposes. Some argue that surveillance is absolutely necessary to help protect and grow a business; others argue that employee and customer rights come first. However, companies that use such tactics often violate the privacy of individuals, exploit their private information and even punish those that do not conform to their standards.

It is very important to update policies, procedures, and rules. However, why is it so important. First of all, there are instances in the workplace that may cause rules to change. This is due to instances such as if your loved one is dying and needs 24/7 care and doesn’t have enough money to pay for a home or on the contrary, is extremely stubborn and doesn’t go to one. Policies change when a rule has a loophole and use it for their own gains, a loophole is “an ambiguity or omission in the text through which the intent of a statute, contract, or obligation may be evaded” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). Many people use these to get extra money from their taxes, find a way not to pay taxes, and know the ins and outs of the system. However, that

If you're using your computer at work, and your company has a stated policy regarding monitoring your use (perhaps even absent that policy, depending on how you read the case law), then you do not have any reasonable expectation of privacy in anything that you do online using your work computer, whether that's during your work day, after hours, or while traveling. Your company can legitimately "eavesdrop" on anything you do with their equipment, and there's little you can do about it.

* In today’s world of fast-developing technology, in which the click of mouse can dispense a plethora of information, privacy for job seekers and employees is a significant issue. One type of privacy issue in the workplace occurs when a company gathers or circulates private or personal information about employees or candidates for employment.

way to track employee whereabouts and location at all times in violation of their privacy.

As with any employer policy, a phone use policy should be reasonable, should strike a balance

The most common form of an invasion, to employee privacy rights is email. With the massive use of computers, email has become the biggest communication tool of choice in the workplace. The concern of employers has grown tremendously with the use of email in the workplace. Employers' concern is that, employees can waste time by sending and receiving email for personal use, and they may provide easy access for hackers to entry their computer system. Employers can monitor an employee computer activity to ensure productivity in the workplace. Privacy Rights Clearinghouse (2006) states, "Unfortunately, if an employee uses a company computer for email use, the employee employer has the right to review the contents of his or her email."

Employers have the right and responsibility to monitor their place of business to protect themselves and their employees from invasion . The irony is that this can only be possible if an employer is able to monitor communications and exchanges . Therefore , for a company to be able to afford the protection that employees need , they must surrender in trust their privacy to the company

"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?

The first questions to ask when it comes to e-mail and websites at work is, “Am I being watched?” The answer is most likely yes. Employers have begun to watch their employee’s activities with greater detail over the years. In 2001, CNN.com posted an article titled, Is your PC watching you? Find out!, which looked into this further. In this article “A study by the Privacy Foundation claims employers are monitoring the Internet and e-mail use of 14 million employees. (Articles.CNN, 2001)” While it can be assumed that number has grown over the last decade, it can also be said with certainty that measures have been put in place to ensure information transmitted via business internet connections have increased. The U.S. government, for example, has set up content filters and points of encryption to safeguard against system penetrations and intrusions. Although these measures are not practical for home use, limiting the information you supply to through the internet will help. One topic of contention that does not seem to have a resolution, however, is the subject of electronic medical records.

The advancement in the technology is believed by the employees’ as actions to limit their privacy by the employers. Henceforth, workplace surveillance creates a legal issue in the work environment. The employees’ believe that their rights get violated when their employer keep a close watch on their activities.

The law supports the claim that employees have a right to access employees’ emails, although most employees are of the opinion that their employers should not access their emails. The courts have not found any reasonable expectation for the employees to have privacy in the same and therefore, they have always granted permission to the employers to keep an eye on the employees’ activities as well as reviewing it. In a case of Smith v. Pillsbury Co., the plaintiff had sued the employer on the ground that he had wrongfully discharged him after the employer intercepted an email message he considered inappropriate (Jennings, 2005). Smith being an at-will kind of employee, his suit centered on whether by being discharged, it went against Pennsylvania’s public policy thereby falling into the exemption under the general rule which indicate that employees who are employed on the at-will basis can have their employment terminated any time. The defendant was given motion from dismissal of the case since it failed to state a claim. The employer was therefore found not guilty of either invading the employees’ privacy or violating public policy when he terminated smith (Wolkinson & Block, 1996). The employer had created email communication system but had told the employees that it was privileged and confidential. The employer also informed the workforce that their emails would not be intercepted

In most states, employees have a right to privacy in the workplace. This right to privacy applies to the employee's personal possessions, including handbags or briefcases, storage lockers accessible only by the employee, and private mail addressed only to employee. Employees may also have a right to privacy in their telephone conversations or voicemail messages. However, employees have very limited rights to privacy in their e-mail messages and Internet usage while using the employer's computer system.

Employers believe employees are taking advantage of the Internet while at work to access inappropriate websites such as shopping, gambling, pornographic material, and illegal downloading. Therefore, employers are searching for ways to reduce Internet exploring and increase work production, and remain within the state and federal guidelines (Young, 2011). To combat these issues, monitoring technologies are put in place to make employees more productive during company’s work hours. Monitoring technologies are classified as the use of computerized system that automatically collect, store, analyze, and report information about how an employee is performing his/her job (Wen, Schwieger & Gershuny, 2007). This helps companies to track their employee’s Internet movements, obtain detailed information (Wen, Schwieger & Gershuny, 2007), and protect the privacy of their company. In return, employers hope this will limit or eliminate employees from extensive use of the Internet.