Electronic Surveillance Of Employees

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Electronic Surveillance of Employees Arnita McCoy-Dhaamin Bryan Smith LEG 500-Law, Ethics, and Corporate Governance January 18, 2012 Introduction Electronic surveillances is defined as observing or listening to persons, places, or activities—usually in a secretive or unobtrusive manner—with the aid of electronic devices such as cameras, microphones, tape recorders, or wire taps. ("Electronic," 1987) Corporations use electronic surveillance to maintain the security of their buildings and grounds or to gather information about competitors. After viewing the video “Electronic Surveillance of Employees” this paper will answer five questions on electronic surveillance of employees in the workplace. Electronic Surveillance Questions The first question is to explain where an employee can reasonably expect to have privacy in the workplace. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA) is the primary federal statute, commonly known as the "wiretap law," governing video surveillance by employers, according to the Electronic Privacy Information Center. Most cases brought under this law involve wiretaps and monitoring of telephone and email communications. Silent video is not covered by the act. However, the ECPA covers the sound portion of videotape recordings. Employers may use video with sound to monitor employees under this act only if: 1) the monitoring occurs in the normal course of business or 2) the monitoring occurs with the employee's consent. (Cynthia Gomez) The second question is in the office workplace there are typically two types of workspaces, an open area, in which there are several desk and where conversation can be overheard, or an enclosed office, in which-when the door is closed-conversations cannot be heard and where one would expect virtually total privacy. Explain whether it makes a difference if an employee is in an open area or
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