Privacy

Are employee assistance programs required?

07/18/2008

Q. I understand that many companies offer employee assistance programs (EAPs) as an added benefit for employees who may have drug or alcohol abuse problems. Are we required by law to do so? …

Strong privacy policy can curtail rifling through files

07/11/2008

Employees who are involved in employment disputes often think they can simply gather up any evidence they find lying about and turn it over to their lawyers. Smart employers try to limit the damage that revealing such confidential information may bring by holding all employees to reasonable privacy and confidentiality rules …

When former employees compete: Getting noncompetes right

07/09/2008

Good employees, especially those in sales or professional services positions, can quickly turn into enemies when they quit. Employers frequently require those employees to sign employment agreements containing noncompete and nonsolicitation restrictions when they start work. However, Illinois courts generally do not favor these kinds of restrictions and will look at them very closely. In fact, our courts are quite likely to rule in favor of employees …

Using GPS tracking devices without violating employee privacy

07/02/2008

Global Positioning System devices make it easy for employers to keep track of the location of company vehicles. But for all the pluses of GPS, there are minuses. Because GPS devices also can pinpoint where employees who use company vehicles are and where they have been, the technology has raised new worker privacy concerns that HR professionals need to know about …

Comcast takes check for woman’s ‘Right arm’

07/01/2008

When Krista Cooney, a Comcast customer in western Pennsylvania, sent the company a check made out for “My Right Arm and Zero Dollars” to protest her cable bill, she thought she’d had the last laugh. But Cooney contends an unidentified employee at Comcast posted an electronic copy of the check on the Internet …

Can emergency contact info be mandatory?

07/01/2008

Q. We’re cleaning up our personnel files and updating emergency contact information. Some employees don’t want to provide their contact information. Is it legal for us to require them to give it to us? …

Negligent hiring: Take proper steps to avoid the costly pitfall

06/17/2008

In recent years, the Georgia courts have significantly expanded employers’ obligations—and therefore potential liability—in the area of negligent hiring and supervision. At the same time, employees and applicants now enjoy significantly expanded privacy rights. So it’s more important than ever for employers to pay close attention to their application, hiring and background-check policies and practices …

Can we search an employee’s car if we think she’s using drugs at work?

06/17/2008

Q. We suspect an employee has been getting high at work. Over the past two weeks, co-workers have reported that the employee’s pupils were dilated and her speech was slurred. She stares out the window for extended periods of time, she fell while walking down the hall, her appearance is disheveled, and she takes multiple “rest breaks” to go to her car throughout the day. We want to search the employee’s car, but she refuses to let us. Can we search her car anyway? …

Sting nets state worker who allegedly sold private data

06/11/2008

Yvette Beler, a data-input worker for Secretary of State Jesse White, has been charged with selling personal data about auto owners to an informant of the federal government …

State worker claims he was fired for airing dirty political laundry