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Privacy

Monitoring staff phones? Hang up when you realize it’s a personal call

05/01/2003
You can monitor your employees’ communications, within reasonable limits. But you can’t let your monitoring escalate to eavesdropping and violate workers’ …

Post Vacation Schedules in Employee-Only Areas

05/01/2003

Q. We post employees’ vacation schedules in the employee lunchroom. Occasionally, outside visitors or customers visit the lunchroom, too. Some employees have complained about this posting policy, saying it borders on invasion of privacy. Are they right and should we stop doing this from a legal standpoint? —M.M., New Jersey

Keep medical data private, even if new HIPAA rules don’t apply

04/01/2003
We reminded you last month that companies sponsoring large health care plans must comply by April 14 with the new Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Smaller plans must comply …

Be wary of giving employees automatic post-injury drug tests

04/01/2003
Steer clear of drafting (or continuing to follow) a company policy that says all employees involved in workplace accidents will automatically receive …

Monitor your job board’s security; fake want ads appearing online

04/01/2003
Monster.com recently notified users that scam artists could be using its job board to pose as employers and post phony want ads. The bad guys’ goal: Collect personal information from unsuspecting …

Anyone can challenge medical inquiries, not just disabled workers

03/01/2003
Don’t let your guard down when interviewing someone who doesn’t appear to suffer from a disability. If you ask an illegal question, anyone can hit you with …

Safeguard your health data: HIPAA rules kick in April 14

03/01/2003
Reminder: If your company sponsors an employee benefit plan, it likely has to comply with new privacy standards under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act’s …

Guard HR records, the No. 1 source of identity theft

03/01/2003
In the past, thieves stole a person’s identity mostly by snatching a wallet, intercepting mail or digging through garbage to find identifying data. Not anymore. Now, …

Stop relying on Social Security number as employee ID

09/01/2002
Identity theft is among the nation’s fastest-growing crimes, and your personnel files and other HR data can be gold mines for would-be thieves. Getting a Social Security number (SSN), in particular, …

Employees have zero privacy claim on e-mail

08/01/2002
Two insurance workers sued, claiming privacy rights, after they were fired for forwarding sexually explicit e-mails. The company had a clear policy that banned defamatory, abusive, obscene or threatening messages. The …