In an opinion earlier this week, the California Supreme Court held that an employee’s right to privacy in the workplace is not boundless. An article on law.com lays out the reasoning behind the court’s decision.
It should be noted that this decision is limited in scope. The court is not saying that in all cases employers can spy on their employees, and made a point of expressing its reluctance to encourage such practices. But in cases of “legitimate business concerns” and where the surveillance is “narrowly tailored in place, time and scope,” some types of spying are allowable.
This ruling shouldn’t be seen as moving the bar too far in favor of employers infringing on employees’ privacy rights. The employees in question in this case were never actually filmed (the equipment was set up to try to catch an after-hours user of one employee’s computer who was viewing child pornography). Hillsides Children’s Center, the employer in question, is the home to many abused children, so it is even more understandable that the center would go to great lengths to stop someone from viewing child pornography on its computer equipment.
It will be interesting to see if employers in California and other states around the county will actually be encouraged to push the envelope of surveillance following this ruling.