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Privacy rights — Virginia

Key cards, private email accounts, audio and video surveillance, password-protected computer workstations – they all make the workplace more efficient and safe and 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 as 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 employer 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, so does the risk that employees will complain. Some employees have even sued their employers, claiming violations of their “right to privacy.” Federal law and the laws of most states do recognize some employee privacy interests. Thus, an employer must consider employee privacy interests when it monitors employee conduct. 

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