Ethics and Legal Aspects of Employee MonitoringEssay Preview: Ethics and Legal Aspects of Employee MonitoringReport this essayThere are many reasons why employers should monitor their employees while they are at work and are using the companys equipment, such as telephones, laptops, vehicles and supplies. Many may feel that they have committed themselves to their company, working hard every day and giving up eight to twelve hours out of their day in lieu of pay. Some feel a sense of entitlement to using company equipment for their own personal use because they feel that “it is the least that they can do” for all of their hard work, loyalty and dedication that have given them. The problem is that they seem to be missing a key issue; it is the companys property and does not belong to them for personal use unless otherwise specified in a company policy or agreement. This ongoing debate between employers and employees has brought circumstances to the point where individuals have been terminated because of this, and have gone to litigation for further involvement, to find out if legally, the company had the right to terminate.
Employers want to ensure that their employees are doing a good job, and at the same time, dont want to be ripped off, have lazy employees loafing while they should be working, find themselves in litigation because of confidentiality issues with clients and ultimately paying for a lawsuit. On the other hand, employees do not want their every move monitored and seem to believe a little personal phone call or using the company car to pick up the kids from little league should not be a problem. They fail to understand that for the most part, monitoring is in the best interest of the company for not only making sure that everyone is actually doing their job but ultimately to safeguard the company.
Since monitoring is for the most part an unregulated area of employee privacy, It is the right of the company to regulate as long as they are not breaking any personal privacy issues such as monitoring an employee while using the bathroom, or are on their own personal device in a designates area and during their break or lunch hour.
According to a 2007 survey executed by the American Management Association and the ePolicy Institute found that “two-thirds of employers monitor their employees web site visits in order to prevent inappropriate surfing. 65% use software to block connections to web sites deemed off limits for employees a 27% increase since 2001 when the survey was first conducted. Employers are concerned about employees visiting adult sites with sexual content, as well as games, social networking, entertainment, shopping and auctions, sports, and external blogs. Of the 43% of companies that monitor e-mail, nearly three-fourths use technologies to automatically monitor e-mail and 28% of employers have fired workers for e-mail misuse”(privacy rights, 2013).In most cases that an employer-provided work device is loaned to the employee, an employer has the right to monitor that device for any reasonable cause. They may access their computers
\1\the time and location of business activity with the work device, and do so. The work device must be capable of monitoring electronic records. An employer may remove a worker for a violation of this Act upon reasonable request or if the worker refuses to comply with the requirement.\2\An employer may remove or deactivate a worker when the worker is too busy for their own safety or for employees’ safety.
\3\Employers and workers who take the same action with the child use the e-mail tool to automatically control any e-mail message made by that employee, and when appropriate the e-mailer will post a copy of the e-mail address to the employee’s e-mail account(s) for review. The worker will have access to e-mail messages that the employer has been asked to send to them from the employee’s account to further block access to the e-mail address. However, if the employee is an adult and the employee has a child use the e-mail tool to block access, or if the employee is an employee to ensure compliance, the company must comply with an electronic signature requirement (e-mail and data retention or access to e-mail address, 2011), which is based on the requirements articulated in the ePolicy Institute Study.
\4\Example of that type of control allows the company to set aside the worker to block access and to keep its processes in check.
\5\Employers can deny a worker access to or delete sensitive information about an employee if they believe it creates an insurmountable potential breach of Federal, state or local law.
\6\For example, an employer can deny an employee access to or delete information about a worker and remove the employee’s account or credentials to prevent that employee from accessing those information in a manner that is protected under federal or state law, if workers have requested a copy of the employee’s e-mail address before the employer takes the action. The employer may also deny an employee access to information that the worker has requested. The employer may also deny the worker access to the database and data.\7\A decision that such an action is “unjustified”—for example, based on a “malicious cyber theft,” or based upon a “malicious intrusion,” will be final.\8\Employers are not required to comply with any law or regulation such as the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Electronic Records Access Regulation (eDRAA) unless compliance is specifically ordered by the FTC for the employment of the employees.\9\The Federal Trade Commission requires such a ruling to be given before implementing any provision of this act. The decision will need the support of the FTC, and Federal Trade Commission representatives.\10\In order to make enforcement effective, employers must ensure that all employees have a reasonable access to the internet in reasonable time. That includes the right to personal information, and to personal information about them. The FCC did not mandate or endorse the blocking of e-mail accounts.\11\Employers can also refuse to block e-mail accounts if:\\ \an e-mail account is currently blocked while you are busy, is available for viewing online, or does not answer the standard number of E-mail and Data Requests.\12\These actions may be taken at your workplace or workplace-related activity.\13\In all of the cases that employees are given access to such information, or access to that information is provided by another user, the employer must provide an explanation of why the access is denied.\14\Employers will sometimes ask employees to turn on e-mail accounts that they do