ect to keystroke monitoring. Employers can even keep track of how much time an employee is away from the computer by monitoring the active and idle times of the terminal. Since employers own the networks and workstations, employees haven’t any defense to this type of monitoring.Electronic mail and voice mail fall under the same situation as computer monitoring. Because the private company owns the equipment being used, they have full entitlement to whatever monitoring they desire. Many employees may believe that by deleting an e-mail or voice message, they are saved from management being able to access it. That is not the case. Even if they are erased, many organizations have equipment that backs up every piece of information that enters the system.Surveillance devices are primarily used for security purposes for an organization, but also caught on tape are the employees doing there day-to-day activities. Each and every move an employee makes can be recorded and monitored as well as every single word spoken if the equipment contains microphones. In most states, private companies even have the right to set up surveillance in locker rooms and bathrooms.Electronic sensor badges are microcomputers in clip-on identification cards used by many organizations for security and identification purposes. Unbeknown to most people is the fact that the badges emit infrared signals, which allows employers to monitor the exact location of the employee throughout the building, recording also where they have been.Employer’s Lifestyle Discrimination Activities in the WorkplaceMany private employers are using the power of the paycheck to tell their employees what they can and cannot do in the privacy of their own homes. The primary targets of employers are the employees that partake in activities that are liable to lead to bad health, such as smokers, overeaters, people with hypertension or high serum cholesterol levels, drinkers, and ...
