Employee Privacy Challenges & Solutions

Electronic Monitoring, Health Information, Personnel Files, and More

Katherine Novak Townsend, Attorney

In today's "plugged-in" world, employers face the daunting challenge of balancing the right to monitor workplace activities against the right to individual privacy. While cell phones, PDAs, laptops and other electronic tools can enhance productivity and efficiency, they also can be overused and abused in the workplace — leading to wasted time, misconduct, and possibly even criminal activity -- exposing employers to discrimination suits and worse.

Learn how to monitor employee activities and communications without infringing your workers' legal rights with the HR Hero Executive Special Report, Employee Privacy Challenges & Solutions: Electronic Monitoring, Health Information, Personnel Files, and More. In plain English, this report addresses such privacy challenges as:

• The use and monitoring of technology in the workplace and its
  impact on employee privacy rights;
• Privacy concerns that arise with regard to testing of applicants and
  employees;
• Access to and disclosure of information in employee personnel files;
• Background checks; and
• Monitoring of off-duty activities.

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Your author, an experienced employment law attorney, will cover:

• Workplace privacy rights and your legal limits relating to privacy
• Search and seizure: When you can search work spaces, investigate misconduct, and search areas beyond the workplace
• Electronic monitoring policy considerations: When it's time to monitor employees and how to implement a legally sound monitoring policy
• When you can monitor phone conversations and how the Electronic Communications Privacy Act comes into play
• How to monitor web use and e-mail activity
• The dos and don'ts for employee testing -- including drug testing, Genetic testing, and psychological exams
• How laws such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act and Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act come into play when conducting background checks

Table of Contents:

1. WORKPLACE PRIVACY RIGHTS
The Foundations of Privacy Rights
Other Privacy Concerns

2. SEARCH AND SEIZURE
Searching Employee Workspaces
Investigations of Misconduct
Searches of Areas Beyond the Workspace

3. ELECTRONIC MONITORING POLICY CONSIDERATIONS
Reasons to Monitor
Are Other Companies Monitoring Their Employees?
Implementing a Monitoring Policy
Public Employers

4. TELEPHONE MONITORING
Electronic Communications Privacy Act
Cell Phones and Other Handheld Communication
Devices

5. COMPUTER MONITORING
E-mail
Employee Privacy Challenges & Solutions
Internet

6. TESTING BODIES AND MINDS
Drug and Alcohol Testing
Genetic Testing
AIDS Testing and Disclosure
Psychological Testing

7. PERSONNEL INFORMATION, ACCESS, AND DISCLOSURE
Personnel Files
Medical Files

8. BACKGROUND CHECKS AND OFF-DUTY ACTIVITIES
Fair Credit Reporting Act
Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act
Criminal History Checks
Off-Duty Conduct

And there's so much more. Order Now Risk Free for answers to all your questions surrounding employee privacy and workplace monitoring.