How to Sue an Employer for Invasion of Privacy in Pennsylvania

Employees have a limited expectation of privacy in the workplace.

It is extremely difficult to sue your employer for invasion of privacy in the workplace. In general, the expectation of privacy in the workplace is low as employers have a legitimate business interest in monitoring communications and activities of employees in order to evaluate workplace productivity and compliance with workplace procedures. Courts have held that the electronic monitoring of email, web browsing and file downloads do not violate employee privacy. Because of the difficulty in successfully bringing an invasion of privacy case in Pennsylvania, you should contact an attorney prior to initiating legal action.

Instructions

1. Carefully consider what cause of action you will pursue against your employer for invasion of privacy. In Pennsylvania, the causes of action include unreasonable intrusion upon seclusion, appropriating another's name or likeness, giving unreasonable publicity to another's private life and using publicity that unreasonably places another in a false light before the public.

2. Build your case against your employer by carefully documenting how your privacy has been invaded. Keep copies of any physical evidence or communications that will tend to support your case. Also, you may want to consider speaking to co-workers outside of the workplace to see if they will be willing to testify in order to support your theory.

3. Determine if your employer has any policies in place that would diminish your expectation of privacy. Examples include written employee policies regarding monitoring of employee behavior or other employee policies generally asking all employees to expect some type of conduct. If the policy in question is invasive to all employees rather than just you, you may have a weaker case against your employer.

4. Contact an attorney to discuss your theory behind your employer's invasive practices. The attorney will help to evaluate your case and may give you an idea of what you can expect to happen once initiating legal action against your employer. If you do not have an attorney, contact the Pennsylvania bar association's lawyer referral service.

5. Have your attorney draft a complaint against your employer. If proceeding on your own behalf, you will need to make sure that the complaint you file complies with all state and local rules of civil procedure. Be sure to file the complaint within the time frame allowed by the statute of limitations and to pay the filing fees associated with the complaint and service of the complaint by the local sheriff.

Tips & Warnings

• Invasion of privacy cases are very difficult to win against employers. If your employer can show that their practices are based on a legitimate business need, you probably will not be successful.

• You should not attempt to proceed independently with an invasion of privacy case unless you are extremely knowledgeable about Pennsylvania laws. Contacting an attorney is the best way to avoid any trouble.

References

• Justica US Law: 2010 Pennsylvania Code Title 18, Invasion of Privacy
• BLR.com: Pennsylvania Privacy: What you need to know
• Harvard Law School: Privacy In the Workplace
• Nolo.com: Your Right to Privacy in the Workplace
• You Can Learn Basic Employee Rights: Workplace Privacy Issues
• Wolf, Baldwin and Associates: Conducting Searches of Employees in PA - An Expectation of Privacy

Resources

• Thomson, Rhodes and Cowie: Privacy in the Workplace
• American Bar Association: E-Mail in the Workplace: Limitations on Privacy; Pivec et all
• Lectric Law Library: Electronic Privacy Rights: The Workplace
• Pennsylvania Bar Association: Lawyer Referral Service