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Business Law
Is monitoring of employee emails and internet use a violation of a person's constitutional right to privacy? This issue is explored in detail in a journal article by Mcevoy entitled "E-Mail and internet monitoring and the workplace: Do employees have a right to privacy?"
In this journal article Mcevoy (2002) discusses the constitutional right of privacy in the workplace, specifically focusing on privacy issues related to employee e-mail and internet monitoring on the job. Her standpoint is that employees should not expect a right to privacy in the workplace with respect to private email communications and internet usage. Her stance is backed by cases brought against employers by employees. More times than not, the employer wins thus is granted the continuing right to monitor employee use of company equipment.
More and more technology has enabled employers to monitor workplace activities, particularly activities employee's engage in while on the web or while using company computers. According to Mcevoy's article a 2000 survey conducted by the American Management Association showed that at minimum 66% of businesses in 1999 were using some form of worker surveillance to monitor employee's activities. That percentage rises to 74% if you include the number of employees monitoring internet use at work (Mcevoy, 2002). As technology...
Messages sent on most employers' equipment can legally be monitored. Many employers are purchasing e-mail security systems to monitor employees messaging while at work (Mcevoy, 2002). A study conducted by the American Civil Liberties Union estimated that more than 20 million workers in 2000 had their email communication monitored (Mcevoy, 2002).
Companies justify their monitoring activities using the law, claiming that they have the right to "bar personal use of office computers" for private e-mails and maintaining that they have the right to fire employees for conduct that they deem inappropriate, which might include sending personal email messages (Mcevoy, 2002). Most employees who have thus far brought privacy claims against their employers have lost (Mcevoy, 2002).
The law enables employers to monitor employees for the most part as long as they inform employees that the equipment is to be used for business purposes and may be monitored. There…
Reference:
Mcevoy, S.A. (2002). "E-Mail and internet monitoring and the workplace: Do employees have a right to privacy?" Communications and the Law, Vol. 24, Issue 2, p. 69
Constitutional Privacy
Another option could be fro Bug to use a defense of proximate cause which states that for a negligent act or omission to be a proximate cause of damage, it must be a natural and probable (not just possible) result of a sequence unbroken by any intervening causes. 6. [See situations b. And c. For background information.] The attorneys for BUG have completed their investigation of WIRETAP and its employee,
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Employee Privacy Torts History of Employee Privacy Changing Trends of Employee Privacy Impact of Innovative Technology on Employee Privacy Role 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 Recommendations for creating Effective Policies Future Implications of Employee Privacy As years have passed and
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. Why do companies implement e-mail and Internet use policies? Most
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