Introduction
Technology developments have rendered the question of employees’ rights including the right to privacy more and more complex. In itself technology allows employers numerous avenues of surveillance into the conduct of their employees while it also allows the employees numerous ways of engagement and is an inevitable part of their lives. The temptations for employees check out their social media sites and engage in online chatting is also increasing the more these technologies come up. While employees may protest that their rights are being violated by the employer, there are numerous laws that safeguard the interest of each party. There is need for the fine-tuning of Canadian and indeed international laws to ensure peaceful coexistence between employees and their employers in matters such as surveillance/monitoring, use of technology at work, social media, and work ethics in relation to technology and privacy rights among others.
Under the Canadian systems, employers in Alberta, British Columbia and Quebec adhere to the provincial privacy legislations which sets parameters for workplace surveillance. Employers in other parts adhere to the workplace surveillance set out in the report by the privacy Commission of Canada are less instructive but generally applicable. In all, the use of video surveillance and Global Positioning Systems (GPS) is not allowed on employees to monitor their productivity. However, these two can be used when the employer shows bonafide security or safety reason for their use. In this case, the employees should be notified in writing and the surveillance must be reasonable in its scope.
Computer, Internet usage and email
Under many Canadian laws, personal privacy laws do not protect the activities of an employee when using an employer’s systems. Any emails sent using the company’s computer systems are considered as company property that the employers may access. The employers only needs to prove a business purpose in order to view employee emails and in they have a right to do this as they seek to protect themselves from illegal usage, as well as improve productivity and relations with suppliers and customers. The employers have a right to some control of the emails which are often used to prove employee misconduct or wrongdoing.
In the same context employees have a reasonable protection under the law since they knowingly and unknowingly feed information to workplace computers in the course of their work. There are numerous gray areas on the extent of protection that legislations can give to each party. The ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada in a 2012 case is one that set the pace for many future related cases. The case of Republic v. Cole attracted widespread attention when the court ruled that employees have a reasonable expectation for privacy protection on the personal information input into workplace computers. Although this case was directly applicable to employees in the public sector, it offers plenty of clues on the future of employees’ privacy in private and public workplaces.
In light of the decisions by the Canadian Supreme Court and projections that more privacy will be given to employees, the employers ought to do the following. First, employers need to establish policies that stipulate as follows: - Computers at the workplace are the company’s property and they are to be used for company business. Employees have no expectation of privacy whenever they share their personal information on company computers. The employees need to be reminded of these issues regularly as well as updating them on any changes to increase their compliance and avoid legal battles.
Teleworking
In many cases in the recent past, technology has allowed many people to work from their homes and distant places where physical surveillance is impossible in what is known as teleworking. Employers are concerned with two things in matters about teleworking- productivity and confidentiality. In order to put some measures on confidentiality, employers may assist their employees in the setting up of the home-office with some protections such as email encryption, password enablement, firewalls, and requirement of biometric identification among others. Employers who pursue these issues ensure that save from the employee; the company information is relatively safe from unauthorized access. The employers may also ask that all company work goes through internal checks such as Citrix. Moreover, sensitive company and customer information ought not to be retained in cellphones, computers, and other portable devices. Instead, it needs to be stored in hard copies and then kept under lock and key at home say in cabinets. The employers may also urge the employees to keep information away from family members and avoid trusting other people with the work-related information.
Social media
Employers have a right to track the websites that their employees visit when at work especially when the employee is using computers belonging to the company. The employer has rights to block employees from visiting some sites such as pornographic sites, or those with violence among others they may select. With the advent of social media, many employees spend plenty of time on the social media sites such as facebook, myspace, and twitter. While the employee may be engaging in issues useful to the company, engagement in social sites is quite engrossing and it can hamper the productivity of the employees. As such, employers have a right to limit the amount of time that employees may spend on some websites.
In case an organization has permitted its employees to use social media when at work, it ought to draft a good policy which outlines the following. It should make it clear that the employees cannot divulge the company’s or the customers’ confidential information and neither can the employees use it to propagate workplace gossip or as an avenue for harassment and discrimination. The employer may also warn the employees that their use of social media may be monitored in accordance with the available laws. Employers should urge and show the employees how to use social media as a tool for career and corporate growth. It is also important that the employer makes it clear that employees need to identify themselves using their real names on social media sites especially if they are to engage in blogging and write about the company.
Conclusion
Employees ought to take responsibility and declare their views, opinions and stands do not represent the actual position of the employers unless the employers has approved. In all, employees need to separate their engagement on social media from their work in order to avoid infringing on the rights of their employers. The employers on the other hand need to respect the rights of their employees to engage in social media provided doing so does not in way pose a danger to the company. In light of monitoring of phonecalls, emails, voicemail messages among others using GPS and other emerging ways, the employers ought to make it clear to the employees that they are being monitored. The employees need to give consent for such and the employers need to monitor in the best interest of the business upholding the rights to privacy other necessary freedoms.
References
Coulte, C. (2013). Technology In The Workplace — A Brief Overview. Canadian Limited.
Geist, M., & Wark, W. (2015). Law, Privacy and Surveillance in Canada in the Post-Snowden Era. University of Ottawa Press.
Nissenbaum, H. (2009). Privacy in Context: Technology, Policy, and the Integrity of Social Life. Stanford University Press.
Turnbull, I. J. (2009). Privacy in the Workplace. CCH Canadian Limited.
