Privacy Issues in the Workplace

Appeal upheld the policy. The court found that even assuming the supervisor had a legally protected privacy interest in his intimate relationship with a subordinate, he could not establish that he had a reasonable expectation of privacy in such a relationship. 519 The Barbee court noted that employers have legitimate interests in “avoiding conflicts of interest between work-related and family-related obligations; reducing favoritism or even the appearance of favoritism; [and] preventing family conflicts from affecting the workplace.” The court further noted that managerial-subordinate relationships present issues of potential sexual harassment. Crosier v. United Parcel Service, Inc. The employer, UPS, had an unwritten rule prohibiting social relationships between management and non-management employees. 520 The plaintiff, a management employee, claimed wrongful termination on the grounds that his dismissal for violation of this non-fraternization rule was not for good cause. In determining whether his dismissal based on this violation constituted good cause, the court reasoned that it must balance the employer’s interest in operating his business efficiently and profitably with the interest of the employee in maintaining his employment. The court found that the employer was legitimately concerned with appearances of favoritism, possible claims of sexual harassment and employee dissension created by romantic relationships between management and non-management employees.

Employers should consider the following in reviewing their policies:

 Does your agency’s interest in preventing workplace problems due to these types of relationships justify the invasion of employees’ privacy?  How would your agency determine whether employees were violating the policy?

 How would your agency ensure that the policy is being enforced uniformly?

5. I NVESTIGATION OF W ORKPLACE R OMANCES AND S EXUAL F AVORITISM An employer’s investigation and regulation of its employees’ workplace, sexual and dating relationships triggers employee privacy rights. The following cases provide some guidance on the contours of these rights. Although many of the cases are from more than twenty years ago, they remain good law. They also illustrate the continued theme of regulating workplace romances – whether regulation and investigation is legitimate turns on the extent to whether the activity in question has a job performance or other workplace nexus.

Privacy Issues in the Workplace ©2021 (s) Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 164