Anti-Discrimination Laws Related to Employment - Research Paper Example

? Anti-Discrimination Laws Related to Employment It has become a reality that there has developed an increase in the number of, individuals, especially in their workplaces, who access the internet every day and this has become a global occurrence. These individuals have access to many databases, which may sometimes hold explicit, violent, prohibited and at times illegal content and this has created a situation where these individuals use the electronic resources of the organizations. This is where they work to access information that is not work related and this has been a source of concern for the managements of these organizations. In order to control these tendencies by employees who use company electronic media, especially the internet, for activities, which are not work related, many companies and organizations have chosen to adopt electronic usage policies whose purpose is to ensure that there is responsible use of this resource. In addition, these policies have been put in place to ensure that electronic resources are not used by employees for purposes, which are not compatible with the objectives of the organizations in which they are used. Recent surveys by human resource managers on employees in a diverse number of companies have found that approximately two thirds of employees spend at least some of their work time on non- work related internet activity. Among the employees who use social networks sites, it has been found that approximately half of them check their social network profiles during their normal workdays and that fifteen percent of this group spends at least one hour a day browsing the internet on non-work related sites. It was further found that over half of employees sent personal emails, with nineteen percent sending more than five personal emails per day. The response of many institutions and organizations to non-work related internet activity has been to establish tougher policies regarding internet usage and electronic means to ensure that their employees are monitored. It has been found that the most dominant method of controlling the internet behavior of employees, is through the blocking of those sites that are most commonly used, the monitoring of internet usage and email, as well as the firing employees for violating the electronic usage policies of their companies. The developments in employee potential misuse of electronic technology, and the reactions of employers to this changing environment, has further come to be evidenced by surveys that were conducted between 2001 and 2007. These surveys show that there was a dramatic increase in the use of electronic monitoring by employers, and this was mainly used as a tool to avoid potential lawsuits. According to a survey conducted in 2001, over half of the companies that responded monitored their employees' internet activities, with forty six percent monitoring e-mail, and thirty six percent monitoring storage and the retrieval of company files (Cappel, 1993). By the time another survey was conducted some six years later, the figures had risen to sixty six percent of companies monitoring Internet connections. There is a high possibility that this trend in electronic monitoring by companies as well as other employers will continue as the technological development of both hardware and software continues to improve and becomes less resource intensive to install and use. Ethical Concerns Ethics have come to play an immense role in influencing the process of regulation of the internet within a diverse number of businesses and their success will depend on how strict the said businesses are in implementing its electronic usage policy. The regulations of the content displayed on the internet are done ethically because they mostly deal with material that is of no use to the business, illegal or both and this is done to ensure that employees get to use this resource responsibly. A responsible business should ensure that the internet content that has been proven to have been wrongfully censored should be, due to consideration of ethics, deregulated because doing otherwise would be a breach in the ethical values of the business involved (Kaupins and Park, 2011). Ethics act as a guide when it comes to making a decision about the content, which should be regulated, which should not and this ensures that there is fairness in the process. It should be a requirement that the various mechanisms for rating whether certain sites should be censored must be adjusted to ensure the usefulness of the agendas and policies that are put in place are meticulously assessed. Among the outcomes, that many employers would like to have from the implementation of electronic usage policies in their businesses is that there will be an increase in the work output of the employees. This is because of the fact that they will have more time to do constructive work instead of spending most of it browsing the internet. While corporate social networking sites offers workers and owners with substantial chance to segment information and become friends, it is unfortunate that American and international laws do not discourse social networking site usage directly. In fact, it has been left to the National Labour Relations Act; numerous common law doctrines among others enable the provision of the pattern that will determine the future of social networking laws. Moral contemplations such as productivity, privacy, accuracy among others will also probably determine the course of how the future laws on monitoring will be formulated (Ottensmeyer and Heroux, 1991). The policies that deal with corporate social networking should equalize the employer’s and employee’s interests and the existing laws and ethical issues associated with social networking should be allowed to have an impact on social networking policies related to configuration, communication, discipline, and evaluation of policies. Corporate social networking policies that are put in place to govern usage in businesses should be business-related, and this should be implemented to ensure that there is user notification of monitoring, the maintenance of adequate records, and the provision of reliable, consistent, and impersonal evaluation of the effectiveness of the monitoring of employees by their employer (Kelly, 2001). Application of Relevant Laws In general, courts have upheld the right of employers to monitor employees as a legitimate business interest and in fact, monitoring has basically become another condition of employment. This is the reason why employees have little legal alternative to prevent workplace monitoring since courts have consistently held that employees should have very limited expectations of privacy in their places of work. As a consequence, it is facts that if any invasion-of-privacy actions that are brought by employees against their employers will likely fail. Feasibly, an employee might succeed in an invasion-of-privacy suit for highly offensive, irrational, or unnecessary assault of the right to privacy and an example of this is when an employee supports a claim of an invasion of privacy if the employer's monitoring exceeds the bounds of decency, such as employers placing video cameras in lavatories or dressing rooms. At the moment, there are a number of proposed bills that are imminent at the federal and state levels and these seek to limit the rights of employers to monitor employees at the workplace (Halpern, Reville and Grunewald, 2008). The fact that a business has the legal right to monitor its employees does not address the issue of whether it should and as has been noted above, electronic monitoring can serve legitimate business interests. On the other hand, there is by the same token compelling behavioral and ethical reasons for not monitoring employees and it is a fact that without appropriate procedural justice safeguards in the workplace, technology poses unparalleled intrusions into the personal privacy of the employees. The unchecked surveillance of employees can create an atmosphere of fear and distrust and this can in the process turn the workplace into an Orwellian nightmare, with the employer posing as Big Brother. In addition to this, the fact that they are being constantly monitored can be extremely stressful and dehumanizing for employees, ultimately alienating them and significantly reducing their output in the workplace. A compromise in the determination of the limits of electronic monitoring and privacy in a technologically based society is a difficult one, but somehow, a balance must be struck between the business interests of the company and the privacy interests of its employees (Yerby, 2013). It is necessary however, that there should also be strict electronic regulations in the workplace because even though the freedom of expression is a fundamental right to all, some employees tend to use this resource for their personal use instead of putting it into the use that it was originally intended. For example, individual employees may choose to spend most of their working hours on a daily basis in social networking sites instead of doing work, which is of benefit for his employers (Mello, 2012). In such a situation, the possibility of this employee being able to work effectively for the business is greatly reduced and as a result, it is the business, which ends up losing. To prevent such losses from taking place, it is the responsibility of the employer to put very strict regulations especially on those sites to which their employees are addicted, and those employees who continue to engage in such practices during working hours should be dealt with swiftly, even if it comes to firing them. Such strict measures should serve as a lesson to all the employees in general who will realize the seriousness of the situation and amend their ways. Businesses should therefore take steps to ensure that content from those sites which are of no use to the achievement of their goals are regulated over the internet because they may prove to be counterproductive in the workplace, a situation which would not be of any use to either the employers or their employees. It is for this reason that electronic usage policies should not only be put in place, but also strictly adhered to by both the employers and employees so that the business can continue to function harmoniously (Sipior, 2007). While this may be the case, however, the employer should be willing to acknowledge the legitimacy of internet addiction and should be prepared to implement fair and appropriate strategies to make up for productivity losses that are caused by the inappropriate use of the internet. It would be better to these strategies rather than to impose zero tolerance policies that will only serve to alienate the employees and leave the business vulnerable to legal action. Such policies would as a consequence create a situation where there is a lack of information about how to successfully create and implement an electronic usage policy that has as one of its features rehabilitation for internet addiction. It is necessary for businesses to develop a tangible approach to deal with critical occurrences of abuse to ensure fair and appropriate treatment. There is an instance where a business employed the use of detailed record forms and reporting methods to monitor critical incidences of employee online abuse and factors, such as work history, length of employment, and job status, were used to evaluate the action taken against those employees who were found to be in violation (Young, 2010). Employees who had better durability with the business and optimistic performance evaluations were offered job redesign options and clinical rehabilitation and over time, by offering rehabilitation as an alternative to termination, the business was able to reduce job turnover and recruitment costs, as well as to better protect itself from any legal proceedings that may have arisen. Recommendations to Reduce Liability Exposure It has been realized that employers can create complex problems when they monitor their employees. In addition, questions have been raised concerning whether employers are should be able to monitor their employers, and if this is the case, what should they be restricted to monitor, and do the employees have the right to know that employers are monitoring them. Every one of these queries has come to create a many-sided reaction from both viewpoint of the employer, as well as the viewpoint of the employee. As it has been noted, increased employee use of the internet has created opportunities for several businesses to produce sophisticated monitoring software, which has enabled employers to monitor almost everything employees that their employees do online. When one looks at monitoring software that has been created within the business, it has been found that most of them have been designed because there is a substantial need to ensure that the workforce is monitored. It is a fact that if an employer does nothing to stop the counterproductive activities of their employees online, then it is most likely that the employer will not stay in business for long. It has been found that the monitoring of employees at the workplace can be beneficial for a business to obtain productivity and efficiency from its employees. The enormity of potential productivity loses, after a survey, was found to be approximately one million dollars annually for a company with five hundred employees who surfed the internet for just a half hour a day and using these facts. It was found that if an employee spends two hours per day on the internet, and the business has five hundred unmonitored employees, the potential annual loss could be nearly four million dollars. One of the biggest hurdles that have to be overcome in the creation of legislation concerning employee monitoring is that after always having operated with almost total freedom, many computer technologists are afraid that the slightest government interference could inhibit innovation and limit access to information. There are some who argue that to help civilize the new electronic front line and make it useful and beneficial to everyone, and not just the technical elite, it is the responsibility of individuals to keep with the American society's premier customs of open flow of information and communication. At the same time, there is a legal battle taking place in Washington over the fundamental question of what types of businesses should be allowed to offer many of the new electronic services and products of the future. The telephone companies of the region are spending plenty of money in a bid to convince Congress to lift limits that prevent them from making an expansion into these new and potentially profitable information and entertainment markets (Reynolds, 1992). Because of the fear for their existence, newspaper publishers, cable television operators, video storeowners and other companies, also are spending plenty of money in an attempt to ensure that the telephone companies are kept out of their business domains. This fight between corporations for the control of the information business shows just how important this industry has become in the current age and because of this, businesses should work towards the development of a balance between the interests of the employers and the employees. Employees should be allowed to have access to a certain amount of information online, but while this takes place, it should also be a necessary obligation for the employees to do the work that is expected of them effectively. It can be said that it is important for businesses to ensure that electronic usage policies are implemented within them so that the output of their employees can be increased. It is also most imperative for employees to learn that it is in their best interests that these policies have been implemented because if they do not have an understanding of the same policies, then there is likelihood that there will be violations of these policies. The implementation of electronic usage policies as well as the monitoring of employees is meant to be able to help employees to manage the changes better, which their employer wishes to make over the use of its electronic media. In addition, the responsible regulation of the electronic usage within a business will enable the employees to learn how to function on a global scale, where they can be able to interact with people of different cultures to achieve the objectives of their employers. Last and most important of all, the decisive study of the electronic usage policies of their companies as well as their acceptance of monitoring by their employers is essential for those employees who need to make adjustments within their organizations so that they can be able to achieve their objectives. It can therefore be said that the implementation monitoring policies by employers is a powerful force for both the administration and the employees of a business and because of this; it should be taken seriously by these individuals, and its implementation made mandatory. This will not only create a balance between the individual and business’s needs in the workplace, but it will also ensure that the total output of the business is increased. References Cappel, J. J. (1993). Closing the e-mail privacy gap. Journal of Systems Management, 44(12), 6.  Halpern, D., Reville, P. J., & Grunewald, D. (2008). Management and legal issues regarding electronic surveillance of employees in the workplace. Journal of Business Ethics, 80(2), 175-180. Kaupins, G., & Park, S. (2011). Legal and ethical implications of corporate social networks. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, 23(2), 83-99.  Kelly, E. P. (2001). Electronic monitoring of employees in the workplace. National Forum, 81(2), 4-5. Mello, J. A. (2012). Social Media, Employee Privacy And Concerted Activity: Brave New World Or Big Brother? Labor Law Journal, 63(3), 165-173.  Ottensmeyer, E. J., & Heroux, M. A. (1991). Ethics, public policy, and managing advanced technologies: The case of electronic surveillance. Journal of Business Ethics, 10(7), 519. Reynolds, L. (1992). Constitutional law in the electronic age. Management Review, 81(9), 24. Sipior, J. C. (2007). Ethically responsible organizational privacy protection. Information Resources Management Journal, 20(3), 3-I, II, III.  Yerby, J. (2013). Legal and ethical issues of employee monitoring. Online Journal of Applied Knowledge Management, 1(2), 44-55. Young, K. (2010). Killer surf issues: Crafting an organizational model to combat employee internet abuse. Information Management Journal, 44(1), 34-38. Read More