Employee Privacy

Employee Privacy

Employee Privacy
xxxxxxxx
University of Phoenix
COM/285 BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS
Instructor xxxxxxxxx
Employee Privacy
      My department was responsible for maintaining the company’s compliance with state and federal laws for Mortgage lending. Many times we would have to obtain the personal information of upper management to submit with the paperwork to the government agencies. It came to a surprise to us when we had to submit an explanation of an old arrest record of the CEO of the company. It almost felt as if the shoe was on the other foot where we, the compliance department, were responsible for handling past legal issues of our employer instead of the other way around. It was an awkward situation.
      Privacy is an issue to all in the work place. We all are guaranteed certain rights regarding our personal information about us such as protection of our social security number, our address, financial, medical, and even background information. The right to privacy partly stems from the fourth amendment of the Bill of Rights which guarantees protection from unlawful or unreasonable search and seizure. The fourth amendment requires that law enforcement have probable cause and judicially sanctioned warrants to conduct search and seizures. Nowadays there are controversial situations of warrantless searches on the basis of probable cause. A law enforcement officer can stop, search, or seize an individual without a warrant if they have probable cause. This practice is common and generally expected by citizens in public so long as no other civic rights are violated in the process. Further, the “probable cause” is expected to be reasonable and justifiable.
      In addition there has been the Privacy Act of 1974 which established the code for fair information practices. The Privacy Act of 1974 applied mainly to government and government agencies that collected information about individuals. The basic rights required compliance with how information is...