An employee has fewer privacy rights in the workplace than they do in their personal life. For this reason, the employees should be cognizant of what information they display when it comes to the use of computers at work. Nowadays, bringing the computer into play has turned out to be a way of doing business each day. Consequently, various questions have emerged as to the legal rights of the workforce to using their work computers for personal reasons.

Notably, technology has permitted organizations to keep an eye on various aspects of their worker’s activities in the workplace. Nevertheless, although the staff may perceive that such monitoring is a breach of their personal life, this form of surveillance is permitted under the law. Arguably, the employees are motivated to do so over litigation and the enhanced role that electronic evidence plays in investigations by government agencies and lawsuits. Accordingly, an employee can be subject to punishment, or dismissed if they violate the policies of an organization concerning personal computer usage.

The use of Internet at Work

Recognizably, employers can trail the internet usage of the workers, in regards to the website visited, the time they spend online, and their engagement in other activities online such as using the social media. In similar fashion, an organization may prohibit the staff from using the workplace computers for their individual activities or deny them access to certain websites and the internet altogether. To that end, there is no noticeable right to privacy allegations against a company for restricting or monitoring the employees’ internet usage.

It can be reasoned that the law grants the employers the prudence to dictate the policies for the personal usage of workplace computers so as to ensure their security. Notably, if the staff are downloading programs and information on the internet, the workplace computers may become vulnerable to various technological problems and virus. The security may also be regarding the workers violating the confidentiality rules of their enterprise. Another reason is that an organization owns the data transmitted to and from the computers since they own the computers.

Email and Privacy 

If an organization uses an email system, then it is the property of the employer, and they are allowed to review its contents. For this reason, the email messages do not have a theme to any law regarding personal privacy. Therefore, a company is free to read and monitor the messages of their staff, with no restriction. The rationale behind this is that the employers are ensuring that the employees are not disclosing confidential information, and they are productive. Additionally, they also do so to decrease the possibility of any wrongdoing or misconduct by the employees. Hence, a company is well within its rights to monitor the emails of the staff.

Written Work Policies 

In like manner, nowadays, organizations employ written policies concerning personal computer usage. They do so to place the workers on notice of their stance on the use of the workplace computers for individual functions. Importantly, the policies are meant to support the corporations when they choose to punish or even dismiss a staff member as a consequence of using the workplace computers inappropriately.

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California and especially the Silicon Valley has long been the hub of computer and software manufacturing in the United States.

With recent layoffs by Yahoo , Hewlett Packard , Lockheed Martin, and others, IT and computer professionals are facing challenges they have never seen in the past.

With the advent of the H1B workers that are entering this company in droves as well as thousands of jobs that are shipped overseas, the laid off computer employee is having fewer and fewer options.

One saving grace, and a little known part of the California labor law is that most computer and IT employees are in fact entitled to overtime pay.

California computer employees are offered additional protections under California labor code 515.5. , Under this statute, those that meet the definition of a computer software professional ie. Code writers, must be paid the minimum under the law and unless otherwise exempt, are entitled to overtime pay.”

At a time when the bills keep coming in and the income has all but stopped or is just trickling in, computer employees are encouraged to find out If they are entitled to back overtime pay.

Employees in California may look back up to 4 years to determine, if they are, in fact entitled to back overtime pay. Furthermore, if they were misclassified, they could be entitled to not just their back overtime pay, but interest and possibly penalties as well. Knowledge is power.

Strategy:

1. Gather a paystub or W-2
2. Gather one or more performance evaluations or a job description.
3. Tally or estimate the total hours you worked without being paid overtime.
4. Contact a California labor law attorney to assist you in determining if you are entitled to overtime pay.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock/ GaudiLab

The post California Layoffs and Why Computer and IT Employees are Suffering So Much appeared first on UELG.