Privacy expectation in the workplace : a matter of a lost cause?

Abstract

In this dissertation, the author aims to give a detailed overview of the theory and practice surrounding privacy issues particularly in the workplace environment. Chapter 1 of the dissertation provides with a generic overview of the notion of privacy as a generic right whilst taking into account the emergence of this right through the ages. Secondly, in Chapter 2, the author provides an overview of the issues surrounding the concept of the reasonable expectation of privacy by the employee in the workplace environment. Whilst considering the application of this notion from the perspective of the private and the public employee, this chapter also analysis the various tests which are applied by the courts in considering this notion vis-à-vis the employee in the workplace. In Chapter 3, the author aims to give a detailed analysis of the legal implications of surveillance and monitoring in the workplace through the use of electronic methods whilst considering the basic reasoning of the employer in resorting to surveillance and monitoring procedures in the workplace. This chapter also provides with a detailed analysis of technological methods engaged by the employer such as text messaging monitoring and tracking devices which have serious privacy repercussions in the ambit of employment. This analysis resumes in Chapter 4 of this dissertation in which surveillance and monitoring in the workplace is discussed in more detail through the specific use of electronic mail and video surveillance methods. Being the most common method of surveillance conducted by the employer, email and video surveillance issues are discussed from various perspectives including a discussion of the EU and the US approach towards this monitoring activity in the workplace. In Chapter 5, the author gives an overview of the various policies and practices which can be adopted by the employer and which may have adverse effects on the privacy rights enjoyed both by the public and the private employee. The much controversial genetic testing is also discussed in this chapter together with other similar policies which apart from the legal implications they also carry with them ancillary ethical issues which can be affected by the application of such practices by the employer. Although these policies and practices are not adopted by Maltese employers, they provide with a suitable paradigm in the eventuality of any similar implementation of these practices by local employers and also by the Government. Since this dissertation reveals the fact that the concept of workplace privacy in Malta is still in its infant stages, the author presents a set of regulations aimed specifically to promote and subsequently enhance the protection of privacy in the workplace and other basic privacy rights whilst at the same time regulating the collection methods, privacy policies and use of workplace surveillance information. Given also the lack of case law in Malta in this particular field, the author aims at creating awareness and concern for the privacy rights of the employee which may be seriously prejudiced by actions and measures adopted by the employer in the workplace environment.