This paper addresses two interconnected topics in employment law. First, it weighs the arguments for and against employer monitoring of employee technology use, considering both the business case — reducing waste and limiting liability — and the employee perspective, including privacy concerns and the value of workplace trust. Second, it reflects on the most important lessons drawn from studying employment law: the value of basic legal awareness and the recognition that employment law is a complex, layered system of federal and state regulations shaped by judicial interpretation, making professional legal counsel essential in many situations.
An employer should monitor technology usage because it can cut down on waste — in particular, it reduces the time employees spend on non-work activities when they should be productive. Workplace monitoring gives employers a concrete way to ensure that company resources are being used appropriately during working hours.
Employers should also monitor technology use to reduce their liability risk. There is a genuine risk that employees will engage in illegal activity online — such as unauthorized downloading — or otherwise perform tasks that create legal liability when carried out on company resources. If the company monitors usage, it can demonstrate that it took reasonable steps to reduce this risk, which is an important consideration in any subsequent legal proceeding.
One reason that employers should not monitor technology use is that it can represent an invasion of the worker's privacy. Employees may legitimately need to use company technology for personal tasks such as checking email or conducting online banking. If this activity is being monitored, the company could inadvertently record sensitive information such as passwords and account codes.
Another reason to avoid monitoring is that refraining from it can foster an atmosphere of trust. Trusting employees tends to produce positive responses and builds a healthier workplace culture. Constant surveillance makes employees feel paranoid and breaks the bond of trust that might otherwise exist between employer and employee, potentially harming morale and productivity in the long run.
The most important lesson from studying employment law is arriving at a basic understanding of the subject. Knowing the core issues matters because it helps identify situations where a legal problem may be arising. Even a general awareness of the law reduces risk significantly; being completely ignorant of employment law exposes a business to substantial legal liability.
A second critical takeaway is that employment law can be quite complex. There are foundational statutes, such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, that are relatively straightforward in their basic provisions. However, in many areas, employment law is a patchwork of federal and state regulations, most of which have been modified and interpreted through decades of judicial rulings. The resulting system is intricate, and knowing when professional guidance is needed is itself an important skill.
Putting these two lessons together represents the most important takeaway from studying employment law. Understanding the basic issues helps avoid serious errors in day-to-day business decisions. But beyond that, one must respect the complexity of the system and recognize when it is time to contact a lawyer. Legal counsel is expensive, so it is not practical to rely on attorneys for every minor matter. However, situations that are too complex to handle independently will inevitably arise, and the ability to recognize those situations — and act accordingly — is genuinely valuable for anyone working in business.
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