Employee Rights & Data Protection

Rights offer a measure of protection for employee information.

What happens privately in the workplace may not be as private as you think. According to "Managing Information in the Public Sector," public employees in the U.S. have little or no rights to data protection at work.

Aspects

Unless a public sector company specifically allows it, certain data protection allowances in the U.S. do not have a legal foundation. "Managing Information in the Public Sector" continues in saying that a public employer can collect and store nearly any kind of data about a current or potential employee.

Considerations

The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) protects employees from having their electronic information, such as emails, intercepted by an employer. However, this protection ceases when the company informs an employee of a policy that allows data monitoring and the employee accepts.

Exceptions

In March 2010, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that workplace emails between an attorney and her client receive protection from the attorney-client privilege. The case involved an employee using her personal webmail account while at work, where there existed a company policy allowing the employer to monitor emails.

References

• "Managing Information in the Public Sector"; Jay D. White; 2007
• "The Law of Electronic Commerce"; Jane K. Winn, Benjamin Wright; 2001
• Privacy Rights Clearinghouse: Workplace Privacy and Employee Monitoring