Assignment #1: Electronic Surveillance of Employees

Abstract

For assignment one I am conducting an analysis of a video that addresses the issues of electronic surveillance of employees. I am going to explain where an employee can reasonably expect to have privacy in the workplace. Explain whether it makes a difference in privacy if an employee is in an open area or in an enclosed office. Explain if the boss in the video, Herman, needs to know whether his salespersons are being honest is a justification for utilizing electronic surveillance. Explain to what extent an employer can engage in electronic surveillance of employees. Finally, explain to what extent the inclusion of innocent, unaware third-parties in such surveillance determine whether it is legal.

Keywords: electronic surveillance, employees, Herman, Drummand, Tony, privacy

Explain where an employee can reasonably expect to have privacy in the workplace.

Privacy in the workplace has been a huge debate about where to draw the line between the employer’s ability to conduct business operations versus employees’ rights to privacy. However, employees can reasonably expect to have privacy in the workplace in the restroom, their private office, or at their cubical desk. The restroom is sometimes a place of comfort and where people tend to their hygienic needs. The restroom is an area where employers should not give the notion that their employees’ intimate privacy is being violated. Another violation would be to use any unauthorized devices to eavesdrop on employees at their work stations, i.e., their office or desk without just cause via their telephone or hidden camera. According to the “1968 Federal Wiretap Law, as amended by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act 1986 (ECPA), making it illegal to intercept, disclose, or access messages without authorization, would appear to protect workers from electronic eavesdropping.” (Halbert, T., & Ingulli, E. (2010), p.74) Every employee has the right to privacy in the workplace. However, the right to privacy...