Yesterday's Advisor covered technology policies in general. Today we look at a narrower area—electronic monitoring—and provide an audit checklist to help you avoid expensive privacy lawsuits.

Employers have many good reasons for monitoring employee activity, but they should always remember that there are legal issues involved, with privacy being the most prevalent. In general, says BLR's popular HR Audit Checklists, there are two keys:

  • Employer must take steps to reduce or eliminate an employee's reasonable expectation of privacy when using company-owned technology during work hours.
  • Employers must establish and routinely implement employee monitoring and auditing policies.

HR Audit Checklists offers the following series of questions to help employers evaluate their current policies. (The more questions to which you answer "yes," the more thought your company has given to its monitoring policy, and the more likely you are to avoid legal tangles.)

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General Monitoring and Privacy                                                                                               

 

Yes

No

Does the policy state the business reasons for monitoring, such as improving customer satisfaction, improving quality of products and/or services, and ensuring a safe, nondiscriminatory work environment for all employees?

 

 

Does the policy inform employees that they have no reasonable expectation of privacy with any company-owned technology such as cell phones, pagers, BlackBerry® devices, personal computers, and vehicles?

 

 

Does the policy define the acceptable and unacceptable use of company-owned technology?

 

 

Does the policy state that the company's authorized representative will audit/monitor employee use of company-owned technology?

 

 

Does the policy reserve the employer's right to discipline employees for violating the policy, up to and including termination?

 

 

Does the policy state that employee use of company-owned technology constitutes consent to being monitored during such use?

 

 

Does the policy contain an acknowledgment stating that the employee has received and has understood the policy?

 

 

Is the employee required to sign the acknowledgment?

 

 

Internet Monitoring                                                                          

 

Yes

No

Do you specifically prohibit the use of the Internet and e-mail to solicit or advocate non-company or personal interests?

 

 

Do you prohibit downloading or communicating foul, offensive, pornographic, or other inappropriate information?

 

 

Have you installed software to block out or curtail access to specific inappropriate websites or newsgroups?

 

 

Do you periodically review your system to identify illegal use of copyrighted material?

 

 

Do you have a "firewall” in place to protect trade secrets and other confidential information?

 

 

Do you require employees to encrypt documents sent via the Internet?

 

 

Do you have a system in place to detect viruses in documents downloaded from the Internet?

 

 

Do you prohibit employees from using company facilities for blogging?

 

 

Those are some considerations for Internet monitoring, but, unfortunately, that's not the only area where policies and practices get dangerously out of date. The "simple solution?” The HR audit. It's the only sure-fire way to identify problems early and correct them before they turn into expensive lawsuits.

Experts recommend an annual audit, but maybe next week would be better? In either case, to do a good audit, you need audit checklists, and there's good news: BLR's editors have already written them—for all of the most difficult HR challenges you face.

Don't "Just do it!" … Do it right! HR Audit Checklists ensures that you know how. Try the program at no cost or risk. Find out more.

Why Checklists?

Why are checklists so great? Because they're completely impersonal, and they force you to jump through all the necessary hoops, one by one. They also ensure consistency in how operations are conducted. And that's vital in HR, where it's all too easy to land in court if you discriminate in how you treat one employee over another.

The monitoring checklist above is just one example of how HR Audit Checklists compels thoroughness. As another example, it contains not one but three checklists relating to recordkeeping and digital information management. One lists 34 types of data and also covers confidentiality, emergency planning, efficiency, compliance with laws, and safety. You'd likely never think of all those possible trouble areas without a checklist, but with it, just scan down the list and you instantly see where you might get tripped up.

In fact, housed in the HR Audit Checklists binder are dozens of extensive lists organized into reproducible packets, for easy distribution to line managers and supervisors. There's a separate packet for each of the following areas:

  • HR Administration (including communications, handbook content, and recordkeeping)
  • Health and Safety (including OSHA responsibilities)
  • Benefits and Leave (including health cost containment, COBRA, FMLA, workers' compensation, and several areas of leave)
  • Compensation (payroll and the Fair Labor Standards Act)
  • Staffing and Training (incorporating Equal Employment Opportunity in recruiting and hiring, including immigration issues)
  • Performance and Termination (appraisals, discipline, and termination)

HR Audit Checklists is available to HR Daily Advisor readers for a no-cost, no-risk evaluation in your office for up to 30 days. Visit here and we'll be happy to arrange it.

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