Privacy Issues in the 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
Public Safety Officers’ Procedural Bill of Rights Act, Cal. Gov. Code §§ 3300 et seq . Firefighters Procedural Bill of Rights Act, Cal. Gov. Code §§ 3250 et seq.
Applicable laws:
Various other federal and California statutes
Common law torts
All current employees
Employee’s person, personal property, and those personal work areas and activities in which there is a reasonable expectation of privacy
Who and what is protected?
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”
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 Workplace ©2019 (s) Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 123
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