Syllabus
Employee Privacy Report
James C Miller
COM/285
December 22, 2011
Linda Burkley
Employee Privacy Report In recent history, there has been an influx in controversy regarding e-mail, Internet usage, and overall privacy policies in the workplace. Because of the extensive increase of personal e-mail, smartphones, social media, and other Internet-based communications, the need for laws that govern privacy for the users of these communications is crucial. These policies are usually implemented to ensure security and to reduce liability. This report will show examples of privacy issues, laws, and experiences in the workplace. An example of complying with company privacy policies is my past employment with Commerce Bank. In 2006, I was offered a position as a teller at Commerce Bank. Before my employment at a branch could begin, several trainees and I had to be trained on the federal, state, and company privacy policies of the banking industry. The entire teller training session was two weeks long and three days of that was focused on privacy issues and regulations. Each trainee was required to sign a privacy policy contract in order to become employed. Each teller machine we would be operating required an employee username and password. This allowed the security department to monitor any actions performed on any machine. The Internet was blocked on the teller machines; therefore we could only access the customer information database and company e-mail accounts. Part of the privacy regulation was in regard to accessing customer banking information without due cause. If a customer called or was physically there at the branch, we could access his or her information. If an employee was found to access this information, he or she could be terminated. Even with the regulations regarding customer privacy, there were still issues with employees accessing private information. One example was the time when another teller accessed personal banking
James C Miller
COM/285
December 22, 2011
Linda Burkley
Employee Privacy Report In recent history, there has been an influx in controversy regarding e-mail, Internet usage, and overall privacy policies in the workplace. Because of the extensive increase of personal e-mail, smartphones, social media, and other Internet-based communications, the need for laws that govern privacy for the users of these communications is crucial. These policies are usually implemented to ensure security and to reduce liability. This report will show examples of privacy issues, laws, and experiences in the workplace. An example of complying with company privacy policies is my past employment with Commerce Bank. In 2006, I was offered a position as a teller at Commerce Bank. Before my employment at a branch could begin, several trainees and I had to be trained on the federal, state, and company privacy policies of the banking industry. The entire teller training session was two weeks long and three days of that was focused on privacy issues and regulations. Each trainee was required to sign a privacy policy contract in order to become employed. Each teller machine we would be operating required an employee username and password. This allowed the security department to monitor any actions performed on any machine. The Internet was blocked on the teller machines; therefore we could only access the customer information database and company e-mail accounts. Part of the privacy regulation was in regard to accessing customer banking information without due cause. If a customer called or was physically there at the branch, we could access his or her information. If an employee was found to access this information, he or she could be terminated. Even with the regulations regarding customer privacy, there were still issues with employees accessing private information. One example was the time when another teller accessed personal banking
References: Department of Justice. (2011). The USA PATRIOT Act: Preserving Life and Liberty. Retrieved from http://www.justice.gov/archive/ll/highlights.htm FindLaw. (2011). Your email isn 't private. Retrieved from http://public.findlaw.com/internet/email-privacy.html Hulme, G. V. (2011, November 28). New Jersey charges four in identity theft cases. Retrieved from http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/112811-new-jersey-charges-four-in-253477.html Workplace Privacy and Employee Monitoring. (2011, April). Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. Retrieved from https://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs7-work.htm