Privacy Issues in the Workplace

S EARCHES AND S URVEILLANCE

S ECTION 6

 Legal snapshot: Employee Searches and Surveillance

 Constitutional Right of Privacy (Cal. Const. art. I, § 1)

 Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution

 Public Safety Officers’ Procedural Bill of Rights Act, Cal. Gov. Code §§ 3300 et seq .  Firefighters Procedural Bill of Rights Act, Cal. Gov. Code §§ 3250 et seq.

Applicable laws:

 Various other federal and California statutes



Common law torts



All current employees

 Employee’s person, personal property, and those personal work areas and activities in which there is a reasonable expectation of privacy

Who and what is protected?

 Search employee’s person or personal property

 Search employer property or areas unless there is: a) a reasonable suspicion of workplace misconduct; and b) a reasonable belief that the search will turn up evidence supporting the suspicion.  Employee’s reasonable expectation of privacy versus employer’s legitimate interest in maintaining a safe and efficient workplace or “the realities of the workplace”

Generally, employers must NOT:

The balancing test for this is:

A. S EARCHES OF W ORK A REAS

1. E MPLOYEES IN G ENERAL Searches of public employee property, desks, lockers, and work areas implicate employees’ privacy rights as well as Fourth Amendment rights. The courts have held that employees have a reasonable expectation of privacy in areas that they intend to maintain as private depending upon the “realities of the workplace.” At the same time, employers have a legitimate interest in maintaining a safe and efficient workplace.

Privacy Issues in the Workplace ©2019 (s) Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 123