Employee Privacy Report 1 In this report, I will be addressing e-mail, Internet use, and privacy policies in my workplace; the current laws regulating employee e-mail and Internet privacy; the reasons to companies carry out e-mail and Internet use policies; the assumptions employees make about their privacy at work; and how these policies affect employee privacy at work. E-Mail and Internet Use , Privacy Policies The E-mail/Internet usage and privacy policies at my job are part of a system of written decisions established by the organization to support and to build a desire culture through managing risk, regulation, and administration. They are current regulatory policies that happen within the workplace. The written guidelines help people keep up the integrity of business organization. The policies allows the organization to limit the discretion of person; to regulated; and arrive at certain types of behavior whether behaviors are good or bad. They tell every one of the written standards of conduct that governed the company's e-mail usage, internal usage, and its privacy policies within the company. They establish responsibilities; standards of behavior; and obligation of the policies. Current laws regulating employee e-mail and Internet privacy are few because employers usae electronic surveillance. Why E-Mail and Internet Policies My workplace is government-owned. The government employers require notified employees that the organization check and watch employees' use of the e-mail /Internet. For example, upon accepting employment with the federal government, the federal government notified that the person that there is monitoring of the Email/Internet usage. The monitoring covers the telephone, co... ... middle of paper ... ...ffect Employee Privacy Policies affect employee privacy by lowering employees' expectations of privacy in the workplace because he or she cannot expected privacy if an employee conducts the activity in a manner open to other employees. If an employee's reasonable expectations are similar to the privacy of personal mail delivered from the post office, he or she may believe the computer are just as private as the documents that he or she stored in the personal workplace's desk or filing cabinet. This reasoning of employee's reasonable expectations violates the employee's privacy. Yet, the employer stands may be that it has a justifiable interest in the oversight of business related employees communications, and in the cost of the used of the computer system. Only through consideration will these two interests will allow the right determination to be determine.
The main points that are stated in "Employees & Ethics With Computers" by Debra Kraft are personal internet usage, email, harassment, privacy, policies, and training. Kraft's computer ethics relate to the Ten Commandments of Ethical Computing by Computer Ethics Institute. The first computer ethic personal internet usage would fall under multiple commandments such as number two, seven, and ten. If employees are using the internet access for personal internet usage it can slow down and hinder the company connectivity for the entire organization. Email is also a computer ethic that falls under a few the commandments such as one, two, seven, and nine. Improper usage of email service can cost the company in data or business losses.
For many years, there has been an ongoing fight between employers and employees pertaining to employee rights. The main thing that they have fought about is computer and email monitoring.
How much information should be collected on employees and prospective employees? Collecting information presents risks that employers will be faced with when employees commit torts outside the scope of their jobs. Also, not collecting the proper information could result in risks depending on the case. These questions will be analyzed based on collected data and employer actual or constructive knowledge. In order to precisely elaborate about the risk and such, I will look at the employee monitoring at work, Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, and respondeat superior.
In my opinion, employees should not be able to use the internet while at work. The computers and networks are business property and are solely used for business transactions. Thus, employers have a duty and a right to ensure proper usage of any, and all, equipment. If employers decide to, they may choose to monitor the usage of the internet to ensure the property is not abused. According to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 USC 2510, et. seq., (www.law.cornell.edu/uscode), federal law allows employers to monitor business calls, however, personal calls are an exception. Under the federal law and employer only has the right to monitor a call until they realize that it is a personal call then must cease monitoring. In the case of Watkins v. L.M. Berry & Co., 704 F.2d 577, 583 (11th Cir. 1983), the court dictated that, "...a manager must cease listening in on an employee call once the call turns personal". When businesses first started using the internet, they did not contemplate developing new technology policies and were very liberal as to the usage of the internet. Eventually allowing liberal usage led to abuse of equipment and work time. Today, people check personal emails and facebook messages (among other social networking sites), take care of online banking, shopping, surf the net leisurely, and chat online. Employers have noticed this distraction severely impacted productivity and performance. Studies show, "Currently, as many as 26 million workers in the United States are monitored in their jobs, and this number will increase as computers are used more and more within companies and as the cost of these monitoring systems goes down" (DeTienne, 1993, p. 33). "By the end of the decade, as many as 30 milli...
In today’s world, technology is extremely advanced and continues to progress with new innovations. As new technology is created, personal privacy diminishes. The newest technologies make informational property easily accessible; therefore, privacy violations have recently become more prevalent. Property such as computer emails, documents, etc. are specifically put at risk due to the advancement of technology. Although personal emails and other aspects of one’s computer should have set privacy boundaries, computers and email addresses distributed by a corporation should be subject to monitoring. Employees should not expect privacy of any means on their work-mandated computer, especially in regard to emails. Although employees may feel violated by email monitoring, they are simply distracted by a false expectation of privacy. Despite these concerns, employers should have the right to monitor employee email because the motive to protect company liability, reputation and tangible assets is legitimate.
Technology has developed in leaps and bounds over the past few decades. The case is that the law always has difficulty keeping pace with new issues and technology and the few laws that are enacted are usually very general and obsucre. The main topic of this paper is to address the effect of technology on privacy in the workplace. We have to have an understanding of privacy before trying to protect it. Based on the Gift of Fire, privacy has three pieces: freedom from intrusion, control of information about one's self, and freedom from surveillance.1 People's rights has always been protected by the constitution such as the Fourth Amendment, which protects people from "unreasonable searches and seizures". As said by Eric Hughes, "Privacy is the power to selectively reveal oneself to the world."2 As written by Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis in 1928 is the right most valued by the American people was "the right to be left alone."3
In an age where instant access to information has influenced the privacy workplace model, which once prevails over what were inalienable assumptions of privacy is no longer a certainty in the workplace. Some companies require employees to sign confidentiality agreement to protect their patents, formulas, and processes. There are instances where companies dictate a “no compete” clause in their hiring practices, to prevent an employee from working for competitors for typically two years without legal implications. While these examples represent extents, employers go to protect their company’s privacy; companies do not go to that extent to protect the privacy of their employees.
Does this sound common? This may sound common because the issue of E-mail and privacy is very common and controversial in our advanced technological world. The determination of what is ethical or unethical is not simple or straightforward. Employers and employees may have seen the ethical and legal issues associated with E-mail privacy differently. E-mail has become indispensable in the modern=day workplace, more often employers are realizing that E-mail communication systems can increase the efficiency of communications internally. Along with this increase in the use of E-mail come legal issues involving employee privacy and monitoring. The laws addressing an employer's rights to monitor E-mail traffic and employees' rights to E-mail privacy are still evolving (Lyford 28).
One type of surveillance is employee monitoring. Many employers monitor their workers’ activities for one reason or another. Companies monitor employees using many methods. They may use access panels that requires employees to identify themselves to control entry to various area in the building, allowing them to create a log of employee movements. They may also use software to monitor attendance and work hours. Additionally, many programs allows companies to monitor activities performed on work computers, inspect employee emails, log keystrokes, etc. An emerging methods of employee monitor also include social network and search engine monitoring. Employers can find out who their employees are associated with, as well as other potentially incriminating information. (Ciocchetti)
"Electronic monitoring has deep ethical implications with respect to workplace outcomes such as employee perceptions of privacy rights, fairness judgments, quality of work-life, and stress-related illness." (Alder, Schminke, Noel, Kuenzi, 2008, p. 481). Most of the ethical implications of employee monitoring fall under an employee's idea of morality. An employee may feel that it is unethical to invade their privacy, even though that employee is using company property. "A common reaction to the suggestion that employers may monitor such internal (to the firm) communications is that this is an abridgement of the constitutional right to free speech guaranteed by the first amendment." (Hodson, Englander, & Englander, 1999, para
An employer’s right to monitor employee computer use is granted by three exceptions to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986. The first, called the business exception, gives employers the right to intercept communication on qualified devices during business. The second, the consent exception, allows employers to monitor communication if at least one individual gives their consent. And third, the service provider exception lets employers access information stored on wire or electronic communication systems they provide, such as email or voicemail, to protect their property rights.
The growing issues with Internet usage in the workplace has become a major concern for employers. Employers are discovering that employees are spending hours of wasted time surfing the Internet and sending inappropriate emails. Employers classify this type of behavior as, “Internet abuse,” and breaking company’s policies. While employees see this type of behavior harmless, employers see this as potential risks to their organization. Previous researched study show employees spend hours surfing the Internet and sending non-work related emails to co-workers, family, and friends. With millions of employees having access to their employer’s Internet, companies are seeing an increase in Internet usage causing potential legal issues and billions of wasted dollars. These issues have also caused loss in productivity and network crashes. To combat these major issues, employers have implemented monitoring technology to help deter employees from using company computer for personal business. Many of these employees are sometimes unaware they are been monitored and are concern with the lack of privacy in the workplace. Employees believe employers implement monitoring systems to make them work harder.
Send unauthorized advertisements or solicitation emails. Sign up for a competitor’s services unless authorized. Our company has the right to monitor corporate emails. We also have the right to monitor websites employees visit on our computers.Disciplinary ActionEmployees who don’t conform to this employee internet usage policy will face disciplinary action. Serious violations will be cause for termination of employment, or legal action when appropriate. Examples of serious violations are: Using our internet connection to steal or engage in other illegal activities. Causing our computers to be infected by viruses, worms or other malicious software. Sending offensive or inappropriate emails to our customers, colleagues or partners.We advise our employees to: Use company-issued phones for business purposes only and preserve them in perfect condition. Surf the internet, text and talk on the phone only for a few minutes per day. Turn off or silence their phones when asked.We won’t allow employees to: Play games on the cell phone during working hours.Use their phones for any reason while driving a company vehicle. Use their cell phone’s camera or microphone to record confidential
Workplace privacy is one of the biggest issues facing businesses today. Do you feel like you are being watched all the time, all your e-mails being read, and every key stroke is being monitored by your boss? Some people feel this way and that is why privacy in the workplace is a problem with many businesses today. Employees feel like they are not being trusted, or feel the company invades on their personal privacy, or violates their fourth amendment rights. On the other hand many businesses have many federal and state laws to follow, and must keep their assets safe, and their employees. Technology makes communications of all sorts as easy as a few pushes of a button. This technology makes it easy for an employer to monitor an employee in almost any fashion, from e-mails to video surveillance. This will make it easy for an employee to abuse the technology the company lets the employee use. Employers need and have the right to monitor their employees to avoid legal liability, as a result of harassing of offensive communications, security concerns relating to intentional or accidental release of sensitive data, and for safety concerns for there employees and business assets. Employees give up their right to privacy as soon as they walk through the door.
Ball, K., Daniel, E. M., & Stride, C. 2012. Dimensions of employee privacy: an empirical study. Information Technology and People, 25(4), 376-394.