Employee Privacy Rights in the Workplace

The issue of privacy is a big concern in the workplace. With the expanding of new technology, many employees are concern about his or, her privacy in the workplace. Employees have the right to go to work knowing that his or, her employer will not invade their privacy. The rights to privacy in the workplace only provide limited protection for workers against monitoring and breach of confidentiality. The National Work Rights Institute states, under the federal law, "the limited protection the Electronic Communication Privacy Act of 1986 provides to employees ' has been reduced because the statue has been outdated." Electronic monitoring has seen a tremendous growth in the workplace, in the past 10 years. The National Work Rights Institute states, "Prior to 1980, electronic monitoring was virtually unknown. Electronic monitoring was introduced into the workplace in the twentieth century for the use of bathroom breaks and measuring hand eye movements." Employers now use monitoring to listening to telephone calls and computer monitoring, such as email and internet use. While this monitoring is now important in the workplace, it is very invading to the employees, because an employer can monitor an employee activity in the workplace without his or, her knowledge. The National Work Rights Institute, under the federal law ¶1 states, "the only relevant federal legislation to protect employee privacy is the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Street Act of 1968 as amended by the Electronic Communication Privacy Act of 1986". The law is to protect employees against unlawful monitoring While monitoring has been around for many years, employees think monitoring poses a bigger threat to his or, her privacy in the workplace. Even though it is understandable that employers want to gain productivity and minimize losses, but this can be done without being invasive to the employees ' privacy rights. So, employers are using a strategy, such as monitoring to ensure productivity in the

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