Privacy Issues in the Workplace

However, when contracting with covered companies, public entities will want to ensure that the obligations and risks of the law rest squarely with the for-profit business. Those risks are real. The Attorney General has enforcement authority over the Act. Consumers may bring class actions against non-compliant companies that allow sensitive consumer personal information to be stolen or wrongfully disclosed. In these cases, consumers may seek statutory damages between $100 and $750 per California resident per incident.

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

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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

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:

Privacy Issues in the Workplace ©2021 (s) Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 128