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The court stated that "Because the reasonableness of an expectation of
privacy, as well as the appropriate standard for a search, is understood to
differ according to context, it is essential first to delineate the
boundaries of the workplace context. The workplace includes those areas and
items that are related to work and are generally within the employer's
control. At a hospital, for example, the hallways, cafeteria, offices,
desks, and file cabinets, among other areas, are all part of the workplace.
These areas remain part of the workplace context even if the employee has
placed personal items in them, such as a photograph placed in a desk or a
letter posted on an employee bulletin board." The court reasoned that the
workplace includes those areas and items that are related to work...
The court held that given the great variety of
work environments, the question of whether an employee has a reasonable
expectation of privacy must be addressed on a case by case basis.
ANALYSIS: In O'Connor v. Ortega, the court ruled that in search cases
conducted by a public employer, the invasion of the employee's privacy
expectations must be weighed against the government's need for supervision,
control and efficiency in the workplace. The court remanded the case to
the District Court, to determine the justification for the search and
seizure and evaluate the reasonableness of the search and its scope.
Lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=U.S.&vol=480&invol=709)overrides a person's expectation of privacy. As evidence, the Court pointed to the fact that Dr. Ortega did not share his office with any other employees and because there was no evidence the hospital had any policy discouraging employees from keeping personal items in their offices. The majority ruled that getting a warrant to search the office would "...conflict with 'the common sense realization that government offices could not function if every
Employee Privacy Torts Issues relating to employee privacy have been at the forefront of businesses for many years. This has been fuelled by the dynamic workplace which changes constantly and also by employees and employers being more litigation-conscious. Technology has also spurred on employee privacy issues with e-mail and the internet being related to heightened concerns about vulnerability of employers to litigation. Many employers have thus exacerbated their concerns relating to
Legal Issues in Criminal Justice This case addresses an incident in which a supervising Sheriff learns that Officer Narcissus has accessed pornographic images of children via the department's computer that is located in his office. The Sheriff seized the computer, the Officer protested vigorously and was arrested by the Sheriff. The following legal cases apply: U.S. v. Ziegler, 474 F.3d 1184 (9th Cir. 2007): An employer can give consent to official