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Privacy

Need to know: Avoid promising 100% secrecy

10/01/2007

HR often has vague policies for when they’ll share an employee’s confidential information. Fact: You can’t always promise an employee that her conversation with HR will be confidential.

Vista may not release data on those who employ day laborers

09/01/2007

Recently, a Superior Court for San Diego County issued a temporary restraining order to stop the city of Vista from releasing the personal information of employers registered to employ contingent workers. The decision came after Vista passed an ordinance requiring registration of anyone who hired day laborers from “uncontrolled locations” …

Drug testing: Minimize lawsuit risk with smart policy

09/01/2007

You have the right to demand a drug-free workplace, but employees also have reasonable rights to privacy. That’s why drug testing and substance-abuse prevention programs carry big-time legal risks if they’re not managed properly. Employers can safely administer drug testing before hiring someone, during a fitness-for-duty test and after a preventable accident …

Phone privacy: It’s your property

09/01/2007

Q. Can employers eavesdrop on their employees’ phone conversations at work, or listen to their voicemail messages in the company voicemail system? …

Dealing with foul-smelling workers: 6 tips for ‘The talk’

08/07/2007

Hosting a termination meeting may be easier than having to tell an employee that he or she has offensive body odor. Here are six tips for handling the issue in your workplace:

How to craft noncompete agreements

08/01/2007

Q. What can I do to avoid unauthorized disclosure of sensitive company information when an employee departs? …

It’s the truth: no lie-detector tests

07/01/2007

Q. I want to know whether applicants have ever stolen from or been fired by a prior employer. Can I require them to take a lie-detector test?

No expectation of privacy on work PCs

07/01/2007

Q.  An employee recently complained that she had received pornographic e-mail messages and links to X-rated web sites from some of her co-workers. I want to review these messages — and other messages these guys have sent — to figure out exactly how large a problem I’m facing. Can I do this?

After cleaning out his desk, he cleaned out their data, too

07/01/2007

A disgruntled former IT worker for Pentastar Aviation in Waterford hacked into the company’s systems and deleted sensitive employee data, causing $34,000 in damages. He’s now facing criminal charges …

Can we install in-Plant security cameras without telling employees?

07/01/2007

Q. We have a theft problem in our plant. Our plant manager would like to install security cameras at key locations and exits, and would like to do this without telling our employees so that we can catch the guilty party. Is there any reason why we should not proceed with installing the cameras? …