Privacy at Work

Employers gather, generate, and store a great deal of information about their employees. Applications, performance appraisals, payroll records, Social Security numbers, medical information, grievance filings, and disciplinary actions are among the many records that employers typically maintain. Employers also monitor employees’ actions and investigate allegations of wrongdoing.

The volume of information available about employees and the means of monitoring their actions have expanded greatly in recent years. All of these record-keeping and information-gathering activities raise questions of privacy. Most people are under no illusion that they are sacrificing some privacy when they go to work and are screened, supervised, evaluated, investigated, and generally watched. Legal protections for employee privacy can be found in constitutions, common law, and statutes, though courts generally view the privacy rights of employees as minimal.