Employee Privacy South Africa

Employers increasingly show a lack of regard for the personal privacy of employees. Workers who endure telephone and computer monitoring, video surveillance, drug testing, medical and genetic screening, credit checks, or lifestyle regulations have few protections from these unwarranted invasions of their privacy.

 Why do employers monitor employee's?

* To evaluate employee performance e.g.

o companies could monitor employees to see if illicit emails are being sent from a company email

o if work is being completed in a diligent a timeous manner

o The study of cyberloafing. "The act of employees using their companies' Internet access for personal purposes during work hours" focuses on a form of production deviance (Lim, 2002

* To prove bad performance

o the employer must prove that the employee is guilty of the suspected misconduct. For that purpose, the employer wants access to the employee's computer to prove the misconduct.

* To protect confidential information and corporate trade secrets

o According to Gahtan's (1997) article titled "Monitoring Employee Communication", there have been instances where employees were sending confidential information and corporate trade secrets through an employer's e-mail systems to other employees or friends. The company protects itself by monitoring the employees computers

* Deter potential threats and disrepute of the company

o A subsidiary of Chevron Corporation owed 2.2 million after a sexual harassment lawsuit was filed when an e-mail entitled "Why Beer is Better Than Women" was circulated within the company.

 Collected Information can be potentially harmful to the employee:

* 3rd party use of information. The company or fellow co-workers may information to third parties which can be potentially harmful.

* it is difficult to tell the difference between personal and private e-mails, phone calls, etc. this may lead to a breakdown of the employment relationship if you are seen in a manner that is not suitable to your job.

* information gathered may be stored permanently for access at any future time. This allows employers to go back into the records and look at an employee's actions for years into the past, read any e-mail an employee has sent or received and even search for a particular piece of personal or work related information.

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 Repercussions to employer & employee relationship:

* It can "...inject an air of suspicion and hostility into the workplace" (Schulman, 2001).

* Monitoring can deter cyberloafing and, at the same time, it can be counterproductive as it can cause resentment in employees at being treated like children (Lim, 2002).

 International Laws

* Belgian Law

the employer's authority is confined to the employment relationship and may not intervene in the employee's private life. Only when it affects the credibility of the contract of employment does the employee's private life, or one aspect of it, become a point at issue. For example, Catholic schools require their teaching staff to practise Catholic morals in their daily life.

Collective Agreement No. 38 of December 6, 1983 concerning the recruitment and selection of employees stipulates that "in the selection procedure the privacy of the candidate's personal life must be respected. This means that questions about their private life are justified only inasmuch as the nature of the job and the conditions under which it is performed make such questions relevant."

* Australian Law

Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) was enacted by the Federal Government and it introduced the process of regulating the collection, storage and use of private information. It ultimately introduced 10 "National Privacy Principles" (NPP's) as set out in schedule 3 of the legislation. The NPP's regulate the collection, storage and use of 'personal information' as well as an individual's right to access and where appropriate correct such information

* Canada

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada recommends the following guidelines in order to ensure compliance with the country's laws:

* Tell employees what personal information you're collecting, why you're collecting it, and what you'll be doing with it

* Obtain an employee's consent when collecting, using, or disclosing any personal information

* Collect only the information needed for a stated purpose

* Keep information only as long as it is needed

* Make sure that the information you collect is accurate, complete, and up-to-date

* AMERICA

All privacy laws do not apply to private business'. The national Privacy forbids government agencies from releasing an employee's personal information, including a Social Security number (SSN) but this does not apply to private companies.