Off-Duty Conduct Privacy
An employer can regulate employees’ behavior at work but may have limited say regarding employees’ off-duty conduct. Today, employers use advanced technology to monitor employees while off-duty. Although the employer may want to know what his or her employees are doing during their own time, there are laws that prevent employers from intruding to employees’ off-duty activities. For instance; in the state of California, an employer cannot take any job-related action against an employee when off-duty. This protects the workers’ off-duty conduct privacy rights. On the other hand, an employee may have questions regarding their off-duty conduct hence; it’s advisable to seek for legal assistance from United Employee Law group.
Employee’s off-duty privacy laws
There are limits for an employer to intrude some of the employee physical areas when off-duty. However; if an employee is doing some activities that are against the law and can affect the employer’s reputation, the employer reserves the right to fire or discipline him or her. Let’s look at some areas where employee off-duty conduct privacy rights are protected.
Marital status
Employers have no right to monitor if a worker is single, divorced or married unless they want the information to include the worker in health insurance plan. In fact, it’s against the law for an employer to discriminate employees based on their marital status. An employee should check if the state they are working with protects employees against discrimination on marital issues.
Union activities
An employer should not monitor any activities that involve the union. Therefore, employees should hold meetings or gatherings without any surveillance. Likewise, the employer should not send someone to eavesdrop on the meeting conversation. This can amount to serious violation of employee rights.
Political and religious beliefs
The state laws protect any employee from being discriminated on the basis of political and religious affiliations. In fact, an employer should not at any one time try to convert a worker to his or her political and religious beliefs.
Drugs
The employer reserves the right to identify if the employee is using drugs when off-duty. Today, employers have an obligation to ensure they provide a safe and healthy working environment. If the employer is suspicious that you may be engaging in drugs when off-duty, he or she has the right to intrude your privacy and take the right disciplinary action against you. However, this should be done professionally since some employees could be using drugs like marijuana for medical purposes.
Majority of employers may monitor employees when off-duty. However, most companies will state before hiring if they have such a system in place. If you have any questions regarding your off-duty conduct privacy rights, you should get in touch with United Employee Law group for further assistance.
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