Key cards, private email accounts, audio and video surveillance and password-protected computer workstations make the workplace more efficient and safer. However, they also have changed the landscape of employee privacy dramatically within a generation. Monitoring technology allows employers to guard against a range of employee misconduct, from unproductive uses of the Internet to fraud and other sources of significant liability for both the employee and the employer.
Management is no longer limited to direct observation governed by human limitations: technological advancements have allowed companies to “supervise” their employees on a much wider scale. Employers can now use technology to monitor employees and make sure that productivity stays high, while employee fraud, theft and other misconduct stays low. Yet employers must also be mindful of applicable local, state and federal laws that may protect employees.
As employers increase their ability to monitor and record their employees’ workplace conduct, the risk that employees will complain also increases. Some employees have even sued their employers, claiming violations of their “right to privacy.” Federal and Maryland laws recognize some employee privacy interests. Thus, an employer must consider employee privacy interests when it monitors employee conduct.
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