employee privacys rights in work place?

Answer 1

Employers want to be sure their employees are doing a good job, but employees don't want their every sneeze or trip to the water cooler logged. That's the essential conflict of workplace monitoring.

New technologies make it possible for employers to monitor many aspects of their employees' jobs, especially on telephones, computer terminals, through electronic and voice mail, and when employees are using the Internet. Such monitoring is virtually unregulated. Therefore, unless company policy specifically states otherwise (and even this is not assured), your employer may listen, watch and read most of your workplace communications.

Recent surveys have found that a majority of employers monitor their employees. They are motivated by concern over litigation and the increasing role that electronic evidence plays in lawsuits and government agency investigations.

A 2005 survey by the American Management Association found that three-fourths of employers monitor their employees' web site visits in order to prevent inappropriate surfing. And 65% use software to block connections to web sites deemed off limits for employees. About a third track keystrokes and time spent at the keyboard. Just over half of employers review and retain electronic mail messages.

Over 80% of employers disclose their monitoring practices to employees. And most employers have established policies governing Internet use, including e-mail use (84%) and personal Internet use (81%). For additional findings from the AMA's 2005 survey, visit www.amanet.org/research/pdfs/EMS_summary05.pdf.

The rest of the article is here:
http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs7-work.htm

Answer 2

Slim to none. When it comes to the use of company resources (including telephones and computers), an employer can do pretty much anything, including taping your phone conversations and taking snapshots of your computer screen every few seconds.

Some industries are tougher than others, too. The securities industry, for example, is required by SEC to archive all of its e-mail. So every time you use work e-mail, the message goes into an archive where it can be made accessible to SEC investigators.