Assignment title: Information
Expectation Of Privacy
Company X has a policy that provides the following:
Employees are reminded that all computers issued by the Company, as well
as all data and information sent, received, or stored on those computers,
remain the property of the Company. Employees should not have any
expectation of privacy with respect to information transmitted over,
received by, or stored on a Company computer. The Company maintains the
rights to monitor, modify, and delete all data that is stored on its
computers. A violation of any aspect of this policy may result in disciplinary
action, up to and including termination.
Employees should not expect that information on any company computer
will be confidential or that they will have any proprietary, privacy, or
protected confidentiality right with respect to such information. In order to
monitor compliance with this policy and protect its business interests,
including the need to prevent any improper use of computers, the company
reserves the right to gain access to any information stored in, accessed, used
or retrieved by any of its computers.
When employees log into their computer, the following message appears
and the employee must acknowledge and accept the warning before access
into the system is allowed:
WARNING: This system contains information that is the property of
Company X and is for authorized use only. Unauthorized access is
prohibited. Activities of users on this system are monitored. Anyone
accessing this system expressly consents to such monitoring and is advised
that if such monitoring reveals possible evidence of criminal activity, the
evidence may be provided to law enforcement officials.
Salrita was recruited by Company X. She and her wife were relocated by the
company so that Salrita could accept a senior level position with the
company. Salrita was recently terminated because the company did not
consider her to be a good fit. She had worked for the company for 15
months and was brought in to turn around a division that had suffered from
poor productivity and leadership. During the last year, Human Resources
conducted 23 different investigations filed by employees complaining of
harassment and discrimination. Employees made statements like the
following: "She is such a bitch." "The dike is never happy." "She is so
aggressive." "She hates white men." "She creates drama with her
screaming and yelling." The company even saw Facebook postings where
employees were complaining about Salrita and making derogatory
comments about her being a lesbian.
Salrita was not found to have illegally harassed or discriminated against any
employee. The court did find that she tended to be impatient and that she
often yelled at employees. She was coached on her behavior and told that
she should be respectful of all employees at all times. The manager's
supervisor gave her a rating of exceed expectations in her annual
performance review because the division was now producing as expected.
During the past year, five employees had left the company because of the
leadership of this manager. During some of the investigations, HR monitored
the email account of the manager. They learned that the manager was
actively seeking employment elsewhere. They also were able to see that
she had sent company reports to her personal e-mail account. In addition,
they found emails where Salrita was complaining that she was being treated
differently because she was a lesbian over the age of 40.
Salrita was very active in the company's LGBT group and was politically
involved in the community.
Salrita is suing the company for wrongful termination. She believes she was
discriminated against because she is a lesbian female over the age of 40.
She also believes that the company did not approve of her activities in the
LGBT group or her political activities on behalf of the LGBT community.
Salrita used in her defense that the company news articles produced by its
public relations department highlighted the community activities of other
senior executives who were involved in United Way or Boys and Girls Clubs
but not her activities because of the community of whose behalf she
volunteered, LGBT. In addition, Salrita wants to bring a claim for invasion of
privacy because of the search of her non-work related e-mails.
Analyze the claims being brought by Salrita against her private employers.
Do you think she will prevail in her claims of invasion of privacy concerning
HR searching her emails and discovering non-work related emails? Did she
have an expectation of privacy? Was the company's search of her emails
reasonable?
Analyzing the facts and the law, do you think she has valid claims of
discrimination against her employer?
Be sure to cite to federal, state, and local laws in your jurisdiction that
analyze the invasion of privacy claims and whether Salrita had a reason able
expectation of privacy.
Also analyze the discrimination claims. Is she able to set forth a prima facie
claim for discrimination? Discuss the burden of proof for both the employee
and the employer.
Include federal, state, or local case law and statutes that apply in this
situation.
You should also include a brief history of the rights being protected by the
laws cited in support of your analysis and the reason such laws are
necessary.
Finally, provide recommendations to the employer if you believe they
should have done something differently in the handling of this matter.
Your paper should be approximately 3300 to 4000 words, excluding title and reference pages. You should respond
to each of the claims being raised by the employee and the defenses available to the employer. You must cite the
laws that protect or prohibit such conduct, and analyze each element of the cause of action to determine what the
outcome may be for each claim. Be sure to include in-text citations, as well as an APA title page, and reference
page. Also, be sure to utilize at least 3 court cases and any applicable statutes that apply to the claims being made
by the employee. Also utilize at least 2 peer-reviewed sources in addition to the court cases, statutes and class
text.