Employee Privacy Rights in the Workplace Brandy Workman COM 110 For many years, there has been an ongoing fight between employers and employees pertaining to employee rights. The main thing that they have fought about is computer and email monitoring. Many employees don’t seen to understand exactly employers do this. Employers monitor email accounts and company computers mainly for two reasons. Reason one is that they don’t want their employees wasting company time for personal use. In most places, that is considered a very good reason, because if an employee is using company time for personal things, then work isn’t being done.
Then it causes problems for everyone. Reason two is that employers want to make sure that employees aren’t doing anything illegal through either email or other internet sites. Okay, that’s understandable. So why do employees still get so upset? Employees believe that an employer has no business prying into their private life, even at work.
Many others believe that employers don’t have any excuse to monitor, because they can have their ISP set up automatic blocks on the internet before employees even get to use it. Another major issue that many employees and employers have is employee health problems and the workplace. It has now gotten to the point where many employers are now telling employees that if they are basically not healthy, they either are fired or will not be able to be employed through their company. The main health topic? Smoking. Employers are telling employees that they need to kick the habit, or they will be fired. They have even gone to the extent of testing employees to make sure there is no tobacco in their system.
The Essay on Monitoring Employee Employees Employers Feel
Should companies be allowed to use hidden cameras and other secret devices to monitor employees at work? This question is a big issue for companies today. Companies wish to protect their assets from employee theft and also assure themselves that employees are working; , not wasting valuable company time. Companies are also videotaping employees to prove that, in some cases, employees were not ...
Why? Health insurance costs. The more employees that smoke, the more an employer pays for insurance. And there some instances in which some employers do not like smokers or are health nuts, so they want their workplace smoke free. Employees, of course, are furious, and they think it should be illegal. “Your boss has no business telling you what to do in your own house.” (Maltby, L. 2005) And employees do have a good point.
“These matters will be decided in court. Their creating a class of unemployable citizens. It won’t stand.” (K jono, N. Forces Smokers Rights Group).
Employers are also either firing or not hiring people that either have high cholesterol, are overweight or participate in risky activities. So what can be done to save the private lives of employees? For starters, about 20 states have made it illegal for companies to discriminate against workers for lifestyle decisions.
For example, an employer cannot fire or refuse to hire an employee who has high cholesterol, because high cholesterol may run in a persons family, and may not be because of their lifestyle. Maltby, L. New Jersey Business JournalRineman, M. USA Today.
