Employee Privacy

In my opinion, employees should not be able to use the internet while at work. The computers and networks are business property and are solely used for business transactions. Thus, employers have a duty and a right to ensure proper usage of any, and all, equipment. If employers decide to, they may choose to monitor the usage of the internet to ensure the property is not abused. According to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 USC 2510, et. seq., (www.law.cornell.edu/uscode), federal law allows employers to monitor business calls, however, personal calls are an exception. Under the federal law and employer only has the right to monitor a call until they realize that it is a personal call then must cease monitoring. In the case of Watkins v. L.M. Berry & Co., 704 F.2d 577, 583 (11th Cir. 1983), the court dictated that, "...a manager must cease listening in on an employee call once the call turns personal". When businesses first started using the internet, they did not contemplate developing new technology policies and were very liberal as to the usage of the internet. Eventually allowing liberal usage led to abuse of equipment and work time. Today, people check personal emails and facebook messages (among other social networking sites), take care of online banking, shopping, surf the net leisurely, and chat online. Employers have noticed this distraction severely impacted productivity and performance. Studies show, "Currently, as many as 26 million workers in the United States are monitored in their jobs, and this number will increase as computers are used more and more within companies and as the cost of these monitoring systems goes down" (DeTienne, 1993, p. 33). "By the end of the decade, as many as 30 milli...

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... be ethical but illegal. Laws do not always fit the definition of ethics.

Works Cited

Aftab, P. (1996, September 30). Monitoring communication on the internet: Big brother or responsible business? The New York Law Journal. Available Internet: http://www.ljx.com/internet/borther.html.

Alderman, L. (1994, December). Safeguard your secrets from your boss. Money, 31-32.

Cornell university Law School. (2011). Legal Information Institute. Title 18> Part 1> Chapter 119> 2510. Retrieved from http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/search/display.html?terms=2510&url=/uscode/html/uscode18/usc_sec_18_00002510----000-.html. Ithaca, NY.

DeTienne, K. B. (1993, September/October). Big brother or friendly coach? The Futurist, 27(5), 33-37.

Jennings, M. (2009). Business ethics: Case studies and selected readings (6th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.