Workplace Privacy, Technology, and E-Discovery

Workplace Privacy, Technology, and E-Discovery Practice Group Leadership

    Adam Klein

Representing Employees

Outten & Golden’s attorneys are committed to protecting employees’ rights to use and access new technologies and to defend employees who are wrongly accused of misusing these technologies.

As technology continues to permeate the workplace and personal lives of employees, it sometimes creates conflicts between employees and employers. As a result of technology use, employees may have claims against their employers for (a) violation of the Constitutional right to privacy, such as where a public employer accesses and reviews employees’ text message communications to third parties; (b) violation of the Stored Communications Act, such as where an employer accesses employees’ password-protected personal e-mails or social media sites without authorization; or (c) violation of the National Labor Relations Act, where an employer disciplines employees for comments made in an electronic forum about their terms or conditions of employment. New state laws that protect employees’ privacy in technology use may also shield employees. At the same time, however, employers are increasingly exploiting new technologies to investigate employees and to bring claims against them, such as claims for misappropriation of trade secrets, violation of non-competition or non-solicitation agreements, violation of the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and defamation. Many of these lawsuits against employees are unlawful. Where an employer initiates litigation against an employee in retaliation for the employee’s prior engagement in protected conduct, such as complaining of unlawful discrimination, the employee may have a strong retaliation claim against that employer.