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23 Comp. Lab. L. & Pol'y J. 527 (2001-2002)
Information Technology and Workers' Privacy: Enforcement

handle is hein.journals/cllpj23 and id is 547 raw text is: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND WORKERS' PRIVACY: ENFORCEMENT Hans-Joachim Reinhardt The use of information technology at work has emphasized a tension between two distinct principles that appear at first sight to be opposed to one other: On the one hand, there is the principle of the inviolability of the employees' private lives and private communications and, on the other, the principle of the employers' rights to enjoy their private property and their managerial powers of command. Surveillance enables employers to protect their property against possible misuse that might cause damage either by direct destruction (such as the erasure of data) or by indirect losses (such as where employees use work equipment for private purposes during working hours). But employees do not surrender all their human rights and dignity when they sign an employment contract. They remain human beings whose fundamental rights must be respected, and, in particular, this includes their rights to privacy and to personal integrity. This situation has required a new balance to be found between surveillance and privacy at work. However, the law cannot set precise rules; decisions must depend on the circumstances of each individual case. This is how the national legal systems considered in this collection of papers have reacted: they give very few definite and clear legal rules, but rather decisions are made on a case-by-case basis. Different countries have developed different types of law in this area, depending on their legal and social traditions. Given the importance of the legal and social context for each national law, it is not possible to say that one form of law is generally more effective than another; the fact that national laws are more or less effective depends heavily on the national context. It is, however, possible to identify some common factors for each of the main types of law that relate to surveillance at work and the processing of workers' personal data. t Referent, The Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Social Law, Munich, Germany.

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