Workplace Privacy Issue:
For a long period of time, the right to privacy, including workplace privacy has been a major controversial issue. In the recent past, workplace privacy issues have become major focal point of debates regarding the rights of employers and employees because of the impact of technological advancements, legislative scrutiny, and rising costs of healthcare. Generally, workplace privacy issues are divided into two major categories i.e. on-the-job and off-the-job privacy issues.

On-the-job privacy issues encompass concerns like psychological testing, drug testing, property searches, and medical testing. They are the most common workplace privacy issues experienced by employees and employers because they are closely linked to job performance and safety. In contrast, the off-the-job privacy issues incorporate a broad range of concerns such as the worker's political activities, recreational activities, and medical treatment as they focus on employee behavior outside the workplace.

Given the significance of workplace privacy issues, there is a….

Deontologically, people might take a stand for personal physical privacy as an innate moral good; yet, precisely what each deontologist might define privacy to be may vary. Consequently, some deontologists might think that workplace surveillance and drug tests are morally acceptable, while genetic tests are not. Others might organize their beliefs differently -- all measures may be seen as morally unacceptable, for instance. Essentially, attesting to be either a utilitarian or a deontologist gives little indication of which way an individual might lean with respect to physical privacy in the workplace.
Legal precedents regarding these issues have made relatively little progress towards reaching a widespread consensus of how to handle such cases. The Burlington case concerning genetic testing could have accomplished this but failed because although it was settled out of court for 2.2 million dollars, "Burlington admitted no wrongdoing and there has been no determination that what it did….

This even happened in Athens in 1993 when its municipal government imposed conditions of a cholesterol check. They sought to accept only those employees having acceptable level of cholesterol. Employers later had to abandon this policy due to public hue and cry but it shows how far employers can go in imposing medical conditions on employees.
Drug testing is a common practice in a number of organizations as its harmful effects on employee performance have been proved many a times. Employees working under the influence of drugs do not act and perform like normal employees. Not only is drug abuse bad for employees' own performance but it also affects the organizational work environment.

Drug testing is something that is acceptable to both employees and employers but the case of alcohol is different. There are many who drink socially and attend offices as well. Employees can impose restriction on dirking within office….

Outrageous Conduct and Invasion of PrivacyIn the workplace, the term outrageous conduct typically refers to any behavior that is beyond the pale of what is considered acceptable. This can include everything from sexual harassment and discrimination to threats and physical violence. Invasion of privacy, on the other hand, generally refers to any unauthorized intrusion into another person's private life. This can include anything from eavesdropping and snooping to using hidden cameras or taking photos without consent. While both types of misconduct can have a serious impact on the victim, invasion of privacy is often considered to be more egregious since it infringing on an individual's right to privacy. With respect to the case, Judge Dailey notes in Pearson v. Kancilla (2003), the elements of outrageous conduct are: (1) the defendant engaged in extreme and outrageous conduct, (2) recklessly or with the intent of causing the plaintiff severe emotional distress, and….

Privacy in the Workplace
The importance of privacy has risen over the years and its handling has become extremely crucial lately. Defaulting organisations have been faced with serious legal actions and thus, companies have taken a higher interest in the conversations of their workforce. However, this effort of the employer aimed at monitoring the activities of workers isn't as smooth as it should be due to the right of the employee to personal privacy.

The right of the workers to workplace privacy has caused several court cases recently, mostly due to the digital revolution of business communication i.e. emails, memos etc. Technological developments have made it possible for all form of digital communication as well as Internet use in the workplace to be placed under surveillance. Although employees have their reservations about this, the employers are protected by the law. However, other actions of the workers like confidential discussions and their private….

egulating Internet Privacy
Privacy regulation has remained pinnacle of issues that got birth with internet. Every innovation in technology is at the expense of privacy; it is no more there as most of technicians believe. A layman using internet does not find how and when his personal information is can be traced by someone else; privacy at workplace that was once enjoyed by the employees is no more at one's disposal, and the never ending cookies and internet bugs allow heightened levels of internet surveillance. General public, heedlessly, isn't aware of such issues and is jolted only when such issues are raised on media. Marc otenberg tells us about its importance, "Privacy will be to the information economy of the next century what consumer protection and environmental concerns have been to the industrial society of the 20th century" (Spinello, 2003).

What is the extent of privacy erosion? Where is it necessary and….

Employee Privacy Torts
History of Employee Privacy

Changing Trends of Employee Privacy

Impact of Innovative Technology on Employee Privacy

ole of Social Media towards Employee Privacy

Impact of Changing Community/Society on Employee Privacy

Adaptation to the new Environment pertaining to Employee Privacy

Employee Monitoring and Surveillance

Laws and Employer Policies for Text Messaging and Social Media

Electronic Communication Privacy Act

Monitoring of Employee Conversations over Telephone & Email

ecommendations for creating Effective Policies

Future Implications of Employee Privacy

As years have passed and the human race has penetrated into the epoch of twenty first century, the technological advancements have conquered almost every facet of human life, especially the workplace. The widespread platform of the internet has become the integral part of a person's life, in the same manner as businesses are employing technological advancements to perform numerous activities like internet infrastructure, maintenance of computers and so on. It means that the human race is residing in a magnificent era where the flow of….

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 employee privacy and especially monitoring of employee behavior. Employee privacy is respected in many of the large corporations. However, there still exist some breaches in employee privacy. Small business owners are at most risk as a result of their increased monitoring practices and close employer-employee interaction.

Historical background

oberson v. ochester Folding Box Company

One of the major cases that brought employee privacy to the limelight was oberson v. ochester Folding Box Company

Franklin Mills Co. decided to appeal the decision. The appellate found….

Employee Handbook Privacy Section
ABC Widget Company: Employee Handbook Privacy Section

What privacy rights issues should be addressed?

In the Age of Information, there are increasing concerns being voiced about what can legitimately be expected to be kept private, and how these issues affect employees' rights in the workplace. According to Hayden, Hendricks and Novak (1990, most adults spend approximately one-half of their waking hours in the workplace today, and it is therefore not surprising that employment practices affect a broad range of privacy rights. With the sole exception of polygraph ("lie-detector") testing, there are not many areas of workplace activities that are addressed by the U.S. Constitution or national privacy laws. As a result, employers in the United States have a great deal of flexibility in collecting data on their employees, regulating their access to personnel files, and disclosing the contents of employee files to those outside the organization. Besides the issue….

This could be construed as a part of the atmosphere that exists in the work place. At which point, entity / individual can sue the employer for violating the law, by not properly monitoring their employees' email and internet activities. ("Workplace Privacy and Employee Monitoring" 2010)
However, a larger concern that employers have is any email sent to someone by an employee can become a problem for them in the future. Where, an employee may tell a customer something in an email, then delete it and deny they said anything. The problem for the employer is that email correspondence can be retrieved later on, after the person has deleted the email. This can be used as evidence that the company knowingly knew what was occurring, because of the email record. If there were any kind of laws broken, law enforcement has a right to view all email correspondence with a….

This will prevent visitation to illicit websites such as pornographic and gambling websites; prevent usage of ecommerce sites such as Amazon or Ebay; or to prevent the use of general recreational or social sites such as Facebook and Myspace. Other companies may elect, with all legal protection, to prevent any web navigation beyond those sites which are essential to conducting business.
hy do companies implement e-mail and Internet use policies?

Most companies determine to use such monitoring policies based on the calculated view that the loss of privacy will promote greater workplace efficiency by discouraging inappropriate use of company resources and time. Among the reasons supplied for using email and web-use monitoring, the text by iBrief (2001) offers the needs to preserve the company's professional reputation, the maintenance of employee productivity, preventing sexual harassment or cyberstalking, preventing defamation, preventing illegal company disclosure and preventing copyright infringement. (iBrief, 1)

hat assumptions might employees….

Employee E-Mail and Internet Privacy Policies
The increased usage of the Internet and e-mail has changed the way companies do business. Nearly instantaneous communication can take place globally. Information on a countless number of topics can now be accessed from anywhere around the world. These technological developments have not only helped employees increase their efficiencies, but also has given them a new means of distraction from their duties. For this reason, many companies have developed e-mail and Internet policies.

At my job, our e-mail policy states that e-mails should not include illegal or libelous statements. E-mail is to be used for business purposes only and e-mail communications are the property of the company. For this reason, the company may access sent and received from work computers at any time, this includes deleted e-mails that are stored on the company's servers. The Internet policy is similar in that the Internet is also to….

Monitoring Employee Communications
The workplace is highly complex, and while there is a great deal of emphasis placed on practical aspects such as management of resources and operational strategies, there is less attention paid to ethical issues. With the evolution technology, there is an increasing potential for businesses to benefits from its application, concurrently, there are many different ethical issues which may need to be considered (Tavani, 2013). An increasingly controversial issue has been the rights of employees to privacy when using workplace computers for personal communications (Blanchard, 2016). This may be argued as becoming increasingly complex, as not only are employees using the workplace equipment, they may also be using their own devices which are attached to workplace networks, or where employees may placer information that can be accessed on social media (Buettner, 2015). The ability to monitor employee communications, need for commercial confidentially, and the desire of employees….

This will pevent the employee fom claiming that they had thei basic civil ights violated.
In the futue, once new changes ae intoduced (fom tansfomations in technology), is when thee will be new policies implemented. Duing this pocess, eveyone will have to go though a new couse that will explain these guidelines. Afte they have finished, is when they will sign anothe disclosue document.

If the kind of appoach was used by employes, it will help to avoid many of the legal challenges that ae impacting fims. This is because executives ae taking the Iowa Supeme Cout guidelines and ae going beyond them. In the event that they ae sued, the fim can demonstate that they ae doing above what is equied (when it comes to these challenges). It is at this point, that an employe can stike a balance between monitoing the activities of staff membes and potecting thei pivacy.

Refeences

Though….

Drug Testing in the Workplace
Most employers in the United States are not required to do drug testing on either current or potential employees, although the majority have the right to do so (United States Department of Labor, 2010). Drug testing is not required under the Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988. The Act can be confusing and challenging for employers, however, since it essentially states that any organization receiving federal grants or contracts must be drug-free but does not contain language that specifically allows for drug testing (Thompson euters 2011). Many state and local governments limit or prohibit drug testing unless required for certain jobs with state or Federal governments.

As far back as 1997, the American Civil Liberties Union was deploring the use of drug testing in the workplace, citing an increase of 277% over a ten-year period (American Civil Liberties Union, 1997). Drug testing remains a controversial issue and one's….

Topic 1: The Ethical Implications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the Workplace

Key Issues:
The potential for AI to automate jobs and displace human workers, leading to unemployment and economic insecurity.
AI's impact on workplace privacy and surveillance, with AI-powered monitoring systems potentially infringing on workers' rights.
The need for ethical guidelines and regulations governing the development and use of AI in the workplace, to ensure fairness and protect workers' rights.

Topic 2: The Ethics of Genetic Engineering and Human Enhancement

Key Issues:
The potential benefits of genetic engineering, such as curing diseases, improving cognitive abilities, and extending lifespan.
The ethical....