Employers have the right to monitor and control the use of its internet resources and company equipment. This can be for the purpose of evaluating productivity of employees and protecting itself from external attacks or possible suits that could occur as a result of internet misuse by its employees. The information can be used to fire the employee mostly in two situations. First, when the employee had been informed and signed a contract with the employer regarding the type of activities that will be monitored, the employer can use the browsing history to arrive at a decision. If an individual had misused the company resources and working-hours in doing unrelated work activities, the employee should be fired for violating agreement and company’s policy on use of internet. Even though the Fourth Amendment of the US constitution provides for the right to privacy, with an existing agreement and policy outlining internet use, the employer can access employee browsing history. This can be seen in a case between the Falmouth town in Massachusetts and one of its firefighter represented by the Firefighters Union (Zackin). In that case, the employee had sued the town for invasion of privacy after the employee’s email records had been accessed in an investigation of sexual harassment. After Falmouth had signed a contract with Google to purchase and use the Gmail domain, Falmouth had published and informed employees of an email policy. This policy allowed Falmouth to monitor and access any messages communicated via the email system. The Massachusetts Superior Court ruled that the firefighter’s expectation of privacy in use of the email was not legitimate.
In a second situation, a company-provided computer is a property of the employer according to the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) ("Workplace Privacy And Employee Monitoring"). In this instance, it is not mandatory for the employer to inform the user beforehand about the activities being monitored. The email messages and other internet usage are not subject to privacy within workplaces which gives an employer the freedom to monitor almost everything on its computer systems and internet traffic on its network ("Computer At Work: Employee Rights - Lawinfo"). The ownership of the internet infrastructure gives the company the discretion to store, own, analyze, and use the data transmitted to and from the workstations for whatever reasons they see it fit. An employee can therefore be still fired by looking at how they spend their time on internet.
Even though some companies allow use of workplace computers and internet for personal use, it is advisable for employees to limit use of these resources for communication purposes so as to guarantee privacy to confidential information. Company emails should be left for work-related activities. They should also familiarize themselves with any policies put in place by the company on internet use. Before the company fires them using the internet history, it is also recommended that it is the duty of the company to increase awareness of such policies during the orientation of the new employees. According to Yerbi, workers should be informed what monitoring is, what information is monitored, and the purpose to build trust with employees (46). Having this knowledge is beneficial to the firm and individual as it promotes cautious use of internet for productivity and general network security. Above all, most companies do not intend to violate employee privacy when monitoring their online activities. The information gathered are mostly meant to stop counter-productive activities while at the same time ensure efficient use of resources by workers.
Work Cited
"Computer At Work: Employee Rights - Lawinfo". Resources.lawinfo.com. Web. 27 May 2016.
"Workplace Privacy And Employee Monitoring". Privacyrights.org. Web. 27 May 2016.
Yerby, Johnathan. "Legal And Ethical Issues Of Employee Monitoring". Online Journal of Applied Knowledge Management 1.2 (2013): 44-46. Print.
Zackin, Martha. "No Expectation Of Privacy In Emails Sent Over Employer's Email Account, Massachusetts Court Decides | Employment Matters". Employment Matters. N.p., 2012. Web. 27 May 2016.
