Privacy Issues in the Community College 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

Applicable laws:

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

 Various other federal and California statutes

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Common law torts

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All current employees

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

Who and what is protected?

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 Community College Workplace ©2021 (c) Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 123