A New Jersey appellate court applied federal rulings from other jurisdictions and held that the employee had no “legitimate expectation of privacy” in information he stored on office computers, even if that information was personal in nature and protected by confidential passwords erected by the employee. This article by Patrick T. Collins, Fernando M. Pinguelo and Keya C. Denner of Norris McLaughlin & Marcus PA discusses the expectation of privacy in the personal information stored on workplace computers. Read more
Filed under Case Law, Case Law & Rules, Home Page Latest, Law & Technology.
September 26th, 2008 at 11:00 am
This article gives some great tips on how a company may outline employee relations so the company will be able to access the employees computer files in a litigation. It is notable that the court in this case is deciding if the person’s privacy rights have been violated after they are privy to the information. It is easier to say that someone’s rights have not been violated when they were stealing huge amounts of money. If someone is innocent and they wrongfully search your private computer, what injury would they be allowed to claim in court; how would you calculate damages for the injury. The best wisdom to tell someone at this point is do not co-mingle your personal and home information but try telling that to the people selling blackberries.
October 2nd, 2008 at 2:47 pm
The title for this article is misleading. This does not concern Personal Employee Information such as Social Security Numbers, addresses, and other information which is typically retained by an employer for every employee. This article concerns information which is retained by an employee on his employer’s conmputer.
February 20th, 2009 at 12:55 am
Thank you for your comment, Susan H. The title was based, in part, on the specific language used by the court in its holding, the analysis for which involved a discussion of the legal concept of “expectation of privacy.”
By: Co-author