Workplace Searches- What’s Legal and What’s Not?
Privacy is a highly volatile area of law. In order to determine whether or not your employer in the private sector has violated your right to privacy, here are a few factors to consider:
What type of employment is involved?
For example, an employer is permitted to search your clothing or possessions to determine whether there has been theft of company property, so in the retail environment, it is customary to check an employee’s belongings to prevent theft of merchandise. It is less customary to do so in an office setting where an employee’s access to easily concealed and/or expensive items is limited.
Is there a legitimate business reason for the search?
For example, an employer has an interest in recovering an item that it believes to be stolen, or preventing workplace violence by ensuring that employees are not bringing weapons into the workplace. However, courts are more likely to find that an employer who engages in random searches without any reasonable suspicion that an employee has violated the law or any workplace policies is violating its employees’ privacy.
What is being searched?
For example, when employers have searched employees’ locked file cabinets, desks, or personal papers, courts have found these items may be searched so long as there was authority to search. However, in a case where the employees were expected to pay for locks to guard their lockers, the court found that the employer had violated the employee’s right to privacy by searching a locked locker. In that instance, the employee had a reasonable expectation of privacy.
What is the employer searching?
For example, if the missing item was a computer, the employer might be justified in searching employee lockers and cars, but not employees’ purses, pockets, or clothing, since the item sought is too large to be concealed on the employee’s body or in the employee’s personal effects.
There are no legal guarantees in this area of law, and it is advised to talk to a lawyer to determine whether or not your employer has violated your right to privacy. If you, or someone you know, are facing legal issues in the workplace United Employees Law Group has the answers. Call Today for your free and confidential case review. Please feel free to CONTACT US with any questions about this blog or your exact situation.
Courtesy of Workplace Fairness. For more information regarding the article, visit http://www.workplacefairness.org/workplace-searches#1
Photo Credit: Shutterstock/Rawpixel.com