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Privacy
Rights and Invasion of Privacy
The State of California ensures of the privacy of employees by
several means. Section 96(k) of the California Labor Code
prohibits employers from punishing their workers for lawful
off-duty conduct. In enacting subdivision (k), the Legislature
found that “absent the protection afforded to employees by the
Labor Commissioner, an individual employee is ill-equipped and
unduly disadvantaged in an effort to assert civil rights
guaranteed by Article I of the California Constitution.” The
Legislature also found that it is not in the public interest to
permit employers to “deprive any employee of any
constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties” and that
subdivision (k) was necessary to “protect the civil rights of
individual employees.” Under the California Constitution,
Article I, Section 1, protects against the dissemination or
misuse of sensitive and confidential information, interests in
making intimate personal decisions or conducting personal
activities without observation, intrusion or interference, the
freedom of intimate association with others (e.g., marriage,
family and sex life), and the freedom of expressive association
(e.g., political, social, economic, religious and cultural
groups). Privacy right lawsuits often arise out of
investigations and drug-tests by employers, including employer
examinations of an employee’s email messages. |
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