The Legal Environment of Business
Research Paper February 9, 2011

The legality of employers monitoring the actions of employees outside the workplace and reprimanding or firing individuals based on any findings.

Introduction
What an employee does outside of the workplace and working hours should not put him at risk for termination, right? Not necessarily. Today, employees are meeting up in bars to have bash sessions about their terrible boss or awful working conditions, they are updating their Facebook status to reflect their aggravation towards their boss who never listens and they are creating online forums for other employees to join, as a place to express their issues as well. Not only do employees engage in work related discussions outside of the office but also many engage in what they see as private activity. Private activities may include, cohabitating with a co-worker, having a few drinks with their spouse on their vacation in the Bahamas or campaigning for Rudy Giuliani. In today’s ever changing working world privacy and the actions of individuals are becoming a more popular topic as people try and protect themselves, whether it be from wrongful termination or the right to terminate an employee.
Company’s, rightfully so, want to monitor their employees actions both inside and outside the workplace to prevent potential problems from arising. They don’t want potential customers overhearing the distaste about the company from employees in a bar nor have those potential customers see employees getting intoxicated and out of hand. They, also, certainly don’t want the whole world having access to information employees are posting on the internet, whether it be the employees opinion about the company or information on the recent strip club the employee went to over the weekend. Also companies want to protect themselves from abuse by employees, i.e.