NCJ Number
116381
Journal
University of Kansas Law Review Volume: 36 Issue: 4 Dated: (Summer 1988) Pages: 869-898
Date Published
1988
Length
30 pages
Annotation
The use of computer monitoring and other methods of obtaining precise, individualized information about employees and their work performance will eventually become a routine part of many American workplaces and has many legal and societal implications.
Abstract
Employers have the following three basic types of legitimate interests in the functioning of the workforce and the operation of the workplace: production, discipline, and safety. They rely on pre-employment screening to measure aptitude for a job and on supervisory observation to evaluate actual job performance. The newer forms of monitoring technology purport to do these functions in a more accurate way than traditional methods. Current law provides private-sector employees with little protection from the imposition of most kinds of monitoring devices, although legislation and litigation will develop the relevant legal doctrines. Employers should recognize that the monitoring technologies assume that current economic problems are largely or totally the fault of the workers and that this attitude is rarely helpful. Employers must resist the urge to buy into the latest technology. Instead, society should search for solutions that involve both employers and employees in a cooperative venture to improve productivity and decrease costs. Everyone is potentially the subject of employment monitoring and should take seriously the threat it poses. 115 footnotes.