Episode 130 — Privacy In The US Workplace

Employers and employees – how much privacy is there in the workplace? Episode 130 explores this question in the United States. What’s an employee’s reasonable expectation of privacy while working? How do federal and state laws limit employer surveillance of employee activity? What limits are there to an employer’s monitoring of employee use of company time and property? Employees use company-provided computers, phones, and other property for a variety of personal purposes, often injecting personal information through a company’s IT system. What should employers and employees do about this? And what about departing and former employees – to what extent can or should an employer monitor a departing employee’s data streams or keep a former employee’s personal information?Annee Duprey, a partner in the Labor & Employment Group of Frost Brown Todd LLP in its Columbus office, and Seth Granda, a senior associate in the firm’s Nashville, Tennessee office, tour this complicated and challenging terrain and offer top tips to both employers and employees. Time stamps:01:20 — What is a reasonable expectation for employee privacy in the US workplace?08:18 — Are there limits to what kind of monitoring employers can conduct on their employees?14:35 — What limitations are there for employees on what they can do with company-provided devices?20:15 — Top tips for employees and employers?