Employee Privacy Rights in the Workplace Imagine you're writing a very personal email to a family relative and you don't want your co-workers they know it. Well, if your employer reads your email for no particular reason and one of the computer workers says something they might have read about someone's personal information, it gets disclosed. The right to privacy of employees in the workplace is a very serious issue in today's society. Employee privacy rights in the workplace should be broken down into categories of who should know what and whose. I agree with the adoption of a privacy law, but at the same time I agree that if the viewers themselves do not respect the rules, then they should be held responsible for the violation of privacy. Most companies today have employees sign what's called a privacy act. Act. One main thing about this privacy law that isn't said word for word is that your employer can watch whatever they want and whenever they want about you on their company networks. There are many reasons why this is allowed. New technology today is great on all the things within a company that they can look at. Computer programs allow the employer to watch exactly what you are watching or write while you watch it or write whatever you are writing. Employers are also able to obtain phone records and verify who you may have called, for how long and sometimes even listen to the conversation. “Employers have not only a moral but also a legal obligation to recognize certain employee rights.” (Arthur, 1989). With all this in mind, employers have certain laws they must abide by in order to invade your privacy. Laws such as the USA Patriot Act, under which individuals are granted access to many government files concerning them, and government agencies that maintain those files are prohibited from disclosing personal information except by court order and certain other limited circumstances. One thing plays a big effect when it comes to employee privacy rights in the workplace and that is identity theft. Again with new technology, identity theft can happen very quickly with electronic communication. You can review personal records at work, while sending the information to someone else.