Privacy in the workplace: employee rights and duties

When it comes to privacy within your professional environment, there are a series of issues that must be taken into consideration. As an employee, you are responsible for the communications, devices and connections you make use of. Employers have the right to monitor their employees, but what methods are used to monitor them? Here are some examples:

• recording on CCTV cameras
• opening mail or e-mails
• use of automated software to check emails
• checking phone logs or recording phone calls
• checking logs of websites visited
• videoing outside the workplace
• getting information from credit reference agencies
• collecting information through point of sale terminals, such as supermarket checkouts, to check the performance of individual staff

All the above activities are covered by a data protection law that defines specific rules about the conditions and circumstances in which monitoring can be carried out. Employees should be fully aware of the process of monitoring in terms of clarity, impact assessment and the specific reasons for it.

You should keep in mind that your employer has the right to monitor your use of internet, email, phone and fax during working hours, but this monitoring should only relate to the business and the workplace equipment.

But what if you discover that your employer has been monitoring some of your activities without you knowing anything about it? “Some employers monitor their workers without informing them that this is happening, for example, by use of hidden cameras or audio devices. This is usually not legal. Guidance under data protection law says that secret monitoring should not be allowed in private areas at work, such as staff toilets, unless there is serious crime involved, for example, dealing drugs.”

All employers should have a code of conduct that regulates every type of monitoring in order to ensure privacy and fairness, and the same rules apply to one of the most controversial issues, the use of social media in the workplace in terms of guidelines.

If you want to know more about the rules concerning being monitored at work in the UK, then click here and if you are interested in finding interesting topics and advice don’t miss our blog posts.