Despite the common belief that privacy is sacrosanct in the U.S., the reality is that nearly every state allows employers to monitor their workers’ electronic communications to a degree.

Here’s a quick look at five representative states that should give you a pretty good sense for what you can expect within the scope of an employer’s monitoring rights.

Arizona

In Arizona, as in many states, private-sector employees have fewer privacy rights at work than at home, according to the Arizona State Bar Association. Employers can monitor employee’s work areas, computers, email use, browsing history and voice mail.

California

Californians may be viewed as being at the forefront of the battle for privacy rights, but even here employers are generally allowed to monitor workplace communications.

California based employers can monitor workers business calls, and freely access voicemail and e-mails.

“…California based employers can monitor workers business calls, and freely access voicemail and e-mails”

The state does have a statute protecting workers from being videotaped in dressing areas (as do most states), however this is arguably more of a measure to deter sexual harassment, than a protection of employee privacy.

Connecticut

Connecticut’s statute applies broadly to the monitoring of employee activities or communications. Employers who want to monitor their employees electronically must give written notice ahead of time to employees who might be affected, and tell them what kind of monitoring they may be subjected to. An interesting loophole here is that if the employer suspects an employee of misconduct, they can waive prior written notice for said suspect employee.

Delaware

Often cited as the most “business friendly” state, Delaware’s employee monitoring law covers “telephone transmissions, electronic mail and Internet usage”.

An employer who wants to monitor employees has to give them an electronic notice of its policies or activities at least once every day that employees are using employer monitored e-mail or Internet access service. Here again the legislation then goes on to make things easier for employers by stating that as an alternative an employer may opt to give an employee a one-time written or electronic notice regarding monitoring, which the employee must then acknowledge in writing or electronically.

Massachusetts

Massachusetts law is probably the most protective of employees rights, although it still leaves a decent scope for employer monitoring. The statutes hold that employees have a reasonable expectation of workplace privacy and  states that employer’s rights to seek information in employee’s electronic communications are weakened or negated if the information is unrelated to job performance, or the means used to obtain the information are unduly intrusive or offensive, or the information is shared with people who don’t need to have it.

Conclusion

The above statutes adopted by the five states listed are a decent representation of the gamut of approaches taken across the US, and while it’s fair to say that attitudes towards the extent and fashion of monitoring vary between states, the principle that employee communications on corporate matters and devices are not subject to protection from an employer’s monitoring, holds pretty much across the board.

“…Employee communications on corporate matters and devices are not subject to protection from an employer’s monitoring.”

Does you company use employee monitoring software? If so, which kind? Let us know in the comments seciton below!