Purvil Patel
Professor Pearlie Bush
Law, Ethics, and Corporate Governance – LEG 500
April 24, 2011
Throughout this paper I will be illustration many questions around “Electronic Surveillance of Employees”. I will discuss the video and explain where an employee can reasonably expect to have privacy in the workplace, whether or not if it makes a difference if an employee is in an open area workspace or an enclosed office space, explain if Herman’s need to know whether his salespersons are honest is a sufficient ground for utilizing electronic surveillance, to what extent an employer can engage in electronic surveillance of employees and at last explain to what extent the inclusion of innocent, unaware third-parties is such surveillance determine whether it is legal.
In the video the manager is electronically listening in on his sales team and confronts a salesman who is making humorous false statements to a customer in order to close a deal. The manager confronts the salesman who justifies his actions by stating it was a joke. The manager enforces him to provide the customer will the correct information and documents. Another saleslady realizes what is going on and confronts the manager and says she is leaving to protect her right of privacy. The video is a little extreme but gets the point across, is electronic surveillance of employees the lawful and ethical thing to do. This is a sales job so the manager can justify the electronic surveillance as a way to help the sales team better themselves or as a simple monitor system to make sure that the employee is not risking the reputation on the dealership by making false statements to customers which can lead to a potential lawsuit in the future.
There are places within the workplace that an employee can have privacy such as the break-room, restrooms, or private
