Prvacy (lack of) in the workplace

THE LACK OF PRIVACY IN THE WORK PLACE

The Lack of Privacy in the Workplace

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The right to privacy that citizens of the United States enjoy is not absolute . Depending on the environment , the right to privacy may be abridged or lost completely . We accept some of the inconveniences associated with loss of privacy . It is understood that in this age of terrorism there are going to be restrictions on what can be brought on board an aircraft or taken

into a courtroom . The citizens accept the minimally invasive metal scans and x-ray machines as necessary to help ensure the safety and well being of society as a whole . In the work environment , however , the right to privacy can be lost almost completely . The changing landscape of business is forcing managers to rethink the amount of privacy employees should be entitled , especially within the areas of internet usage and email

Public sector employees do have some privacy protection in the work place . In addition , some labor union negotiated contracts provide for privacy protection of the unionized work force . In addition , contract workers also have a degree of protection . With only twenty percent of the work force unionized , the majority of private sector American workers do not have an expectation of privacy when at work (ACLU 2

The majority of companies monitor their employees in some fashion They can search through any s on office computers , record internet usage , read incoming and outgoing email , monitor your keystrokes , and monitor network activity . Indeed , of those who do practice work place surveillance , 75 monitor website visits , 55 percent monitor email usage , and 50 monitor computer s (Nizik 1

Employees have the right to monitor the usage of electronic resource partly because they own those resources , but also because the laws enacted to protect employee 's privacy are few and those that do exist are weak . Most of these laws only require that that the employers notify

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their workers that they are subject to electronic monitoring (Nizik 1 In fact , these laws in general legalize the surveillance of employees since they do not prohibit it (Employee Issues 1

Most employers do notify their employees that they are subject to monitoring . This is done through employee policy and procedures company memos , and notification when an employee logs on to their computer . In genera , this notification is not to protect the employee it is to protect the employer . Courts have looked favorably on companies that have notified employees of monitoring when these employees have attempted to bring civil lawsuits against the companies for privacy violations (Employee Issues 2

Employers are very concerned about employee use of computers . This would include using email , chat room and instant messaging , surfing the web , and storing s . In fact , a survey showed that of those who monitor employees , twenty-six percent have fired workers for internet policy...