Question

You manage a work group of 20 employees in your office. One of your least productive employees, James, seems to miss a lot of work, is consistently behind on his projects, and makes a lot of errors. You decide that you need to watch him more closely, and enlist your Information Technology (IT) department for help. Which of these is allowed? Why/Why not? For full credit, EXPLAIN your answers, including any relevant laws, limitations, etc.

1. You ask IT to get you a report of every website James has visited and the amount of time spent on each

2. You ask IT to track where James is during the work day by using the GPS location feature on his company work phone

3. You ask your assistant to friend James on Facebook so you can see what kinds of things he posts about that might relate to his work productivity

4. You ask IT to automatically send you copies of all of James' emails.

5. You ask IT to set you up so that when James in on the phone, you can listen in.

6. You and James are both members of LinkedIn, and you review his account.

Answer 1

Answer:

‘Electronics communication Privacy Act of 1986’ is a law that prohibits the employer from intercepting the oral, wire and electronic communication of the employees. However, the above law has also provided two exceptions to the protection of privacy in the form of electronic communication

1. Business purpose exception where the employer can monitor the oral and electronic communication as long as he can show that it is for the business purpose.

2. Employer can monitor the oral and electronic communication if the employee provides consent to the employer in the written format.

By taking into consideration the above law, the employer of the company can do the following things:

1. Ask IT to get the employer a report of every website James has visited and the amount of time spent on each so that the employer can find whether James was just making the time pass or if he was actually surfing the website which is adding knowledge to his domain. This would help the employer to establish the perspective that whether James can be engaged in the productive work or not.

2. Ask IT to track where James is during the work day by using the GPS location feature on his company work phone. This would help the employer to identify that whether James is hiding from the work or he is actually performing some task of the business at some other location.

3. Ask employer’s assistant to friend James on Face book so you can see what kinds of things he posts about that might relate to his work productivity. This would help employer to identify the manner in which James thinks the way of living a life.

4. Ask IT to automatically send the employer the copies of all of James' emails. This would help employer to find whether the e-mails was made for the business purpose or not and the kinds of errors made in the e-mails so that they could be rectified later.

5. Ask IT to set employer up so that when James in on the phone, you can listen in. This would help the employer to identify the reason of hindrance for James from his work.

6. And reviewing the James’ LinkedIn account. This would help the employer to check the professional activities of James and whether he is applying for some other jobs.

Although the above things look unethical, but by law, employer can perform all the above activities as by law he is entitled to perform all the above said activities if he thinks that they are for the good of business.