Employee Privacy Rights in the Workplace - Essay Example

Employee Privacy Rights in the Workplace Sexual harassment is one of the most prevalent problems in the workplace. In most Western countries, this isconsidered a form of discrimination and the United States protects against this in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972. Sexual harassment may involve sexual discrimination because of gender, civil/marital status (i.e. a person is married or is a single parent), sexual preference as well as having sexual and/or social disease such as AIDS, syphilis or others. In general, there is no excuse whatsoever for sexual harassment or any form of discrimination based on race, gender or creed. Sexual harassment in itself is demeaning to a person and could entail loss of self-esteem, confidence and respect for oneself and the harasser. “Sexual conduct becomes unlawful only when it is unwelcome. It is considered unwelcome if the employee did not solicit or incite it. It is considered unlawful if the employee regards the conduct as undesirable or offensive. It is important to understand that sexual harassment is not limited to female victims; rather, males may be victims and same-sex harassment may occur. (Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964)” Actions whether verbal or physical that may be construed as sexual harassment are offensive conducts and they vary; it could be a touch, a remark or a look. "Offensive conduct may include, but is not limited to, offensive jokes, slurs, epithets or name calling, physical assaults or threats, intimidation, ridicule or mockery, insults or put-downs, offensive objects or pictures, and interference with work performance.(Roberts and Mann, 2007)." Specific example could be a male boss looking at a female subordinate’s buttocks every time she passes by. For the male boss, he may say that he is “only checking out the goods” but for the female employee, she considers it rude and disrespectful. Thus, sexual harassment – no matter how the harasser looks at it innocently – involves not taking cognizant and respecting the feelings of others. What may be innocuous to someone may be a big deal to others. The term wrongful termination is dependent on who is defining the term. Usually, a dismissed employee will immediately say he was wrongfully terminated but for the employer, he is simply “getting rid” of an employee that is not productive in the office environment. Employers use different methods and tactics of terminating employees. It could be laying them off due to economic reasons, others would invent offenses make an employee seem to be violating company policies while others simply terminate for no reason at all. Legally, there are several reasons a terminated employee can determine wrongful termination (Anonymous Employee, 2007): Discrimination – being terminated based only on gender, ethnicity, disability, and a large number of other discriminatory causes Retaliation – termination due to retaliation for such actions as whistle blowing or telling the proper authorities about illegal activities in which they are taking part; firing employees for something done legally, or because of refusal to participate in an act that is against the law Defamation of Character – employer intentionally defames your character in order to justify your termination Breach of Contract –can include contracts that are either explicit or implied; working on contract for a predetermined period of time, employers will normally be unable to terminate that contract before the end of its term without proper cause Breach of Good Faith –an implied relationship is formed between the employer and the employee, where the employee is expected to be treated fairly Constructive Discharge – feeling of quitting must quit because of changes made by the employer that made working conditions unbearable Much like sexual harassment, the burden of proof in proving wrongful termination is on the terminated employee and the employer is always at the position of strength to refute the wrongful termination allegations. “It is often up to the employee to prove that s/he was wrongfully terminated, because the law tries to protect the rights of businesses as well termination (Anonymous Employee, 2007);” hence, an employee should be able to document actions against him by an employer in order to be able to fight for his rights in a wrongful termination suit. Equal pay for equal work has always been the rallying cry of the laborers. In addition, several monetary and non-monetary benefits are expected by employees from their employees; this is especially true for employees holding regular employment status and has been working for the company a long time. But in some cases, employers deny certain benefit overtime pay and insurance; worst, some employees work for free. Several legislations are in place to protect workers from the above unfair labor practices. One of these laws is the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 or FLSA which “regulates the minimum wage, employee overtime status, child labor, overtime payment, and record keeping requirements along with other administrative issues (Department of Human Resource Management, 2007). Similarly, the “Equal Pay Act (EPA), an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act, prohibits compensation discrimination based on an employees sex. This means that an employer cannot use wages to discriminate between employees on the basis of sex. Employers many not pay wages to employees at a lesser rate than it pays to employees of the opposite sex for equal work that requires equal skill, effort, responsibility, performance and under similar conditions. (Department of Human Resource Management, 2007)” Aside from the wage legislations, laws also exist that define other monetary and non-monetary worker’s benefits. In essence, employees must be at all times protected by the employees while under their employ. This protection is not limited to salaries and wages but also include health and accident insurance, leaves and time off as well as overtime pay for overtime work. In no instance must employees be made to work and not get paid because this is tantamount to slave labor practices. By the same token, employees must report illegal acts by employers in order for justice and proper compensation be rendered for whatever work is performed. “Any employee covered by the FLSA may initiate a complaint on employers to be investigated. Penalties for violations can include up to two years of back pay and up to three years for willful violations. Under certain circumstances, doubling of unpaid wages can be required. (Department of Human Resource Management, 2007)” The Information Age has changed the “rules of engagement” in terms of employee privacy in the workplace. It used to be that telephone calls, lockers and drawers are checked by employers but with the entry of computers and networks as well as the advent of high-tech cameras and other surveillance equipments, the term “Big Brother” brought on new meaning. In a paragraph from Duke L. & Tech states (2001): Employee use of electronic mail (e-mail) during business hours is a common characteristic of the 21st century American workplace. Employers provide e-mail services to their employees as an efficient means of facilitating both intra-company communication and communication with the outside client base. E-mail serves to increase the efficiency of todays workplace because it is inexpensive to provide, simple to install and easy to use. E-mail usage also dramatically decreases the use of office-related, paper-based correspondence. However, despite these efficiencies, this technological advancement is also creating collateral problems concerning issues of employee privacy that todays legal environment appears unprepared to solve. In fact, many employees operate under the false assumption that personal e-mail messages sent from work are protected from their employers scrutiny. The common idea indeed is that there shouldn’t be an “expectation of privacy” from the employees the moment they step into the domain of the employers. It is also the employers right to protect itself from untoward incidents thus rationalizing the need for electronic and video monitoring of the premises. Both ideas from the employees and employers’ viewpoints are well and good but in order to protect employees, employers should and must inform employees that monitoring is and will take place so long as they are in the premises of the employer. But monitoring should not go as far as invading and employee inside the toilet or urinal stall as this is taking it a bit far. With email, it is just practical to understand that personal emails should not be sent or receive via corporate resources since an employee is not doing his job the moment he performs personal activities on company time. The reality of it all is that employers and employees will always have differing ideas in terms of privacy in the workplace. What may be too private or too personal for an employee might be privileged domain for an employer. Taking everything into consideration, the power still rests on the employers; thus, employees still have to be protected from any and all possible abuses of employers and the government is there to legislate and serve as watchdog for such matters. Whatever the situation that might arise, employees have recourse to settle or voice out their grievances but in doing so, they must stand ready to fight for their rights and privileges. Bibliography: Anonymous Employee. (2007). Wrongful termination. [Online] Retrieved March 25, 2007 from the Website: http://www.anonymousemployee.com/csssite/sidelinks/wrongful_termination.php Department of Human Resource Management. (2007). Human resource management manual. [Online] Retrieved March 25, 2007 from the Website: http://www.dhrm.state.va.us/resources/hrmanualHTML/toc.htm Duke L. & Tech. (2001, July 25). “Monitoring employee e-mail: Efficient workplaces vs. employee privacy.” iBRIEF / eCommerce Rev. 0026. [Online] Retrieved March 25, 2007 from the Website: http://www.law.duke.edu/journals/dltr/articles/2001dltr0026.html Roberts, Barry S. and Mann, Richard A. (2007). Sexual harassment in the workplace: A primer. [Online] Retrieved March 25, 2007 from the Website: http://www3.uakron.edu/lawrev/robert1.html Read More

“It is often up to the employee to prove that s/he was wrongfully terminated, because the law tries to protect the rights of businesses as well termination (Anonymous Employee, 2007);” hence, an employee should be able to document actions against him by an employer in order to be able to fight for his rights in a wrongful termination suit. Equal pay for equal work has always been the rallying cry of the laborers. In addition, several monetary and non-monetary benefits are expected by employees from their employees; this is especially true for employees holding regular employment status and has been working for the company a long time.

But in some cases, employers deny certain benefit overtime pay and insurance; worst, some employees work for free. Several legislations are in place to protect workers from the above unfair labor practices. One of these laws is the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 or FLSA which “regulates the minimum wage, employee overtime status, child labor, overtime payment, and record keeping requirements along with other administrative issues (Department of Human Resource Management, 2007). Similarly, the “Equal Pay Act (EPA), an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act, prohibits compensation discrimination based on an employees sex.

This means that an employer cannot use wages to discriminate between employees on the basis of sex. Employers many not pay wages to employees at a lesser rate than it pays to employees of the opposite sex for equal work that requires equal skill, effort, responsibility, performance and under similar conditions. (Department of Human Resource Management, 2007)” Aside from the wage legislations, laws also exist that define other monetary and non-monetary worker’s benefits. In essence, employees must be at all times protected by the employees while under their employ.

This protection is not limited to salaries and wages but also include health and accident insurance, leaves and time off as well as overtime pay for overtime work. In no instance must employees be made to work and not get paid because this is tantamount to slave labor practices. By the same token, employees must report illegal acts by employers in order for justice and proper compensation be rendered for whatever work is performed. “Any employee covered by the FLSA may initiate a complaint on employers to be investigated.

Penalties for violations can include up to two years of back pay and up to three years for willful violations. Under certain circumstances, doubling of unpaid wages can be required. (Department of Human Resource Management, 2007)” The Information Age has changed the “rules of engagement” in terms of employee privacy in the workplace. It used to be that telephone calls, lockers and drawers are checked by employers but with the entry of computers and networks as well as the advent of high-tech cameras and other surveillance equipments, the term “Big Brother” brought on new meaning.

In a paragraph from Duke L. & Tech states (2001): Employee use of electronic mail (e-mail) during business hours is a common characteristic of the 21st century American workplace. Employers provide e-mail services to their employees as an efficient means of facilitating both intra-company communication and communication with the outside client base. E-mail serves to increase the efficiency of todays workplace because it is inexpensive to provide, simple to install and easy to use. E-mail usage also dramatically decreases the use of office-related, paper-based correspondence.

However, despite these efficiencies, this technological advancement is also creating collateral problems concerning issues of employee privacy that todays legal environment appears unprepared to solve. In fact, many employees operate under the false assumption that personal e-mail messages sent from work are protected from their employers scrutiny. The common idea indeed is that there shouldn’t be an “expectation of privacy” from the employees the moment they step into the domain of the employers.

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