Do Employees Have Privacy Rights?
Employers must have personal information about their employees including Social Security numbers, date of birth and full name. This information is crucial to the employer for them to comply with hiring laws.
Recently, Oregon and Washington passed legislation regarding how this information is protected, stored and destroyed. An article regarding New Employee Privacy Rights in Oregon and Washington explains the requirements.
We would think that common sense would dictate taking special care with employee’s personal information. Yet, we frequently hear stories of personal information being disposed of improperly or made available to identity thieves. Now each business must have a security plan and breach notification procedures. There are regulations that spell out exactly what must be done and the business may be held accountable.
Maybe the new regulations will make a business think twice before handling employee information in an unsecure manner. What do you think? Comments Welcome!
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Good posting. Unfortunately, many small employers are not aware of this.
Comment by Doug Williams — December 13, 2007 @ 5:24 pm