Selected Laws

Archive for July 24th, 2010

Consider the installation of hidden surveillance cameras or in your company? Many employers consider video and other surveillance key to keeping an honest and productive workplace. It keeps employees on the straight and narrow – no fingers in the till, no time clock funny business, no drinking or on drugs at intervals. Many business owners and managers also record phone calls or send and e-mails from the office.

But be careful employer can not go too far in their surveillance or they risk being sued by an employee for an invasion of privacy by federal or state law. This article gives an overview of the existing surveillance laws in the workplace – you should always talk to your own attorney to determine exactly what is the law in your state.

video surveillance There are some variables when it comes to video surveillance in your company. Your choices are visible and traditional dome surveillance cameras or hidden cameras, with or without audio. Each of the variables has potential legal implications. Visible cameras (concealed in any way) are generally not illegal if they are in a non-private place.
If the camera records audio and video
, you must comply with federal and state level interception and eavesdropping laws. You will need the consent of one or all parties not to a recorded conversation, depending on your jurisdiction.

Hidden Cameras are a slightly different story. Video recording (without sound) is usually okay, even if the camera is hidden, unless the person (s) recorded has a reasonable expectation of privacy is the taping for some illegal purpose to do or there was trespass to the video record.

courts throughout the country, with more and more frequencies to the conclusion that there is no reasonable expectation of privacy in non-covert video surveillance or even with hidden surveillance if the physical space is investigated a public space. Note that if an employer uses union employees, the employer may, with the Union of its intention to report hidden cameras, but probably not disclose where the cameras are installed.

It is a federal law it is a crime to secretly capture photo or video images of people, places and situations where it is an expectation of privacy. Most states have followed suit. These laws are often referred to as “video voyeurism” statutes. “

. These Spy Cameras are a great tool for many employers but can be used not appropriate. The federal government and most states have recently “video voyeurism “laws adopted. make

These laws make it a crime to secretly record or distribute images of people in places where a reasonable expectation of privacy, such as bathrooms, dressing rooms, locker rooms , hotel rooms and tanning.

The federal law prohibits anyone from recording images of the individual “private space” without consent if the individual has a legitimate expectation of privacy. Every state in the U.S. now has some legal prohibition of video voyeurism or invasion of privacy, except Iowa and Washington DC About half of these statutes effectively to this kind of video recording of a capital crime. Many have an even harsher punishment for distributing such videos. < br />
your home state specific laws such as the courts of the state must have to check the state might have different views about what kinds of jobs can be expected to be private – bathroom and changing rooms “no-brainers” but some states’ courts have ruled that employee break rooms or lunch rooms are “private” for purposes of video surveillance.

OTHER control is at work
The surveillance of electronic communications such as telephone, voice mail, e-mail and instant messaging from the Federal wiretapping and eavesdropping statute – the Electronic Communications Privacy Act fall. The ECPA has several business use include exceptions in order to carry out the necessary investigations of employers to protect trade secrets and keep an eye on inventory and revenue.

Under federal law, is the monitoring of things like e-mails and phone calls be made if either the sender or recipient consents or if it is done in the regular course of business. Employers can monitor only equipment that they own, and do not have the right to monitor e-mail hosted by a third party (such as Web-based e-mail programs.

< , br /> BEST PRACTICES whether they have a right to privacy in the workplace or not, will find many staff monitoring of any sort offensive. It’s good practice for employees with written notice of the existence or the possibility of monitoring is provided in the workplace – Video, audio or otherwise.

instructions can be made a part of a written, distributed policy, or a section in the employee handbook. Employees can even asked an approval or confirmation of monitoring can be signed. If you are careful ethical and respectful of your employees and the law, video and other surveillance measures at the workplace is a wonderful tool for your business smoothly and profitably.

If you take threats to the security of your documents seriously (and we mean very, very seriously) and you would like the added feature of portability, you can give some consideration to the DS 20 434 Dahle High Security Shredder. Designed for use in the field of military, federal and state governments as well as all contractors and / or sub-contractors from agencies like the Department of Defense for projects where high security is a top priority. Features: The Dahle 20 434 DS is portable and therefore you can destroy up to security documents while you are in the field, on a business trip, or just about anywhere. This shredder is commonly used for military operations, but can also for other applications where portability is important to be used. The Dahle 20 434 DS, you can be sure that you enjoy the highest security level of any shredder available everywhere. Reviewed at Security Level 6, this deployable shredder meets the approval of the National Security Administration for the destruction of Top Secret documents under their NSA / CSS Specification 1.2 standard. This amazing machine has two solid steel cutting drums production, the paper powder scraps of paper that measure 4 by 1 mm. 7mm. What does this mean that the average sheet of paper into over 15,500 pieces, after it was crushed by the machine. In other words, you can also a shadow of a doubt that, whatever goes through the shredder will never read again certain. The 20 434 DS is very durable and easy to transport. There are handholds on the sides, a hard but light wood cabinet, and the 20 434 DS even comes with a high impact plastic case so you can ship it anywhere you may need. The case is inside with foam shredder Sun is always protected during transmission, and all seals are designed to air-and water-lined to prevent possible damage from corrosion and the like. Even for such a high security portable machine, the DS 20 434-sheet capacity is quite impressive, eight leaves, and forty feet per minute. The collection container is accessed by a sliding drawer that shred makes for easy accessibility and disposal of waste. The small size of the particles mean leaf also, you have to empty the trash less frequently than is normal for a shredder. The operation of the DS 20 434 could not be easier. It has a toggle switch that you ON / OFF, continuous run, or vice versa can select operation.

Restrictions: portability is a great thing, but it translate to certain restrictions. The width of the feed 20 434 DS is only ninth 5 inches wide, the custom still room for most of Letter and Legal big bow, but size paper documents such as computer printouts have to be cut or otherwise re-size to fit. Although this is supposedly Shredder portable, it weighs more than eighty pounds. This makes it somewhat difficult to move. If you need to move the shredder should be fine within your organization or do they need to move to another office or location. However, the weight of this device that you do not want to just pick up and carry it out with a whim. While Dahle offers a two-year warranty on all other parts, there is only one year warranty on the cutting heads of the 20 434 DS. This is common with high security paper shredders. With the DS to 20 434, you will likely to be crushed on a as-needed basis, and not to tear up huge piles of documents to try in one sitting.

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