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 search warrant. Because of the host of legal issues that arise from employee email correspondence, most employers will monitor what their employees activities are, as far as email and the internet are concerned. ("Workplace Privacy and Employee Monitoring" 2010)
What assumptions might employees make about their privacy at work? How these do polices affect employee privacy at work?
The biggest assumption that employees will make about the workplace is that their personal areas including: their desk, computer terminal, where they visit on the internet and company email accounts are considered to be private. However, most of these areas are not considered to be private in the workplace. Instead, the employer has a right to search / monitor: the desk, computer terminal, the email and where the employee visits on the internet. This is the biggest assumption that employees make in work and are one the greatest areas of confusion for them. ("Workplace Privacy and Employee Monitoring" 2010)
These policies affect employee privacy at work,...
Meaning, that while you want employees to have their privacy respected; due to the fact their activities can create possible legal situations for the company. Means, that this can create a conflict, where employees will believe that they are entitled to various instances of privacy above and beyond what the law may allow. Once these kinds of situations arise, this could become an area of perceived conflict, where the employees could feel as if their right to privacy is not being respected by their employer. To prevent this kind of confusion, many employers will have their employees sign a letter, acknowledging they understand how the company employee privacy policy works and that they will follow it. If a situation arises in the future, where an employee feels as if their privacy has been violated, then their employer can show the employee what they signed, when they first started working with the company. As a result, many employers have found that by having employees sign such policies; is a good way of addressing any kind of misconceptions that employees may have about privacy and protecting the employer. ("Workplace Privacy and Employee Monitoring" 2010)
Clearly, employers will monitor their employees' email and internet activities to prevent any kind of possible legal ramifications. This is significant, because weighing the balance between personal privacy and what employees are doing at work, will speak volumes as to if an entity will face legal issues down the road. This is the biggest reason why all companies will monitor their employees' communication and activity online.
Bibliography
Work Place Privacy and Employee Monitoring. (2010). Retrieved March 7, 2010 from Privacy Rights website:
http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs7-work.htm
Saunders, K. (2003). Practical Internet Law for Business. Boston, MA: Artech House.
