Office Quandries
Peter Rachleff
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PUNCHING OUT page 2 of 3 | |||||
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Weekly Answers to Office Quandries |
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Professor Peter Rachleff |
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We Americans typically think of our culture as one in which ordinary
citizens have many "rights." I often take a certain perverse pleasure in
warning my students that, when they enter a workplace, they might as well
hang the Bill of Rights on a hook with their jackets alongside the time
clock.
Unfortunately, our rights under the Bill of Rights do not apply in the workplace. The courts have said as much since the Constitution was ratified in 1787 to fend off personal invasions by government entities and agents. The specific interpretation is that our employer's property rights supercede our rights to free speech, assembly, etc. How about that? Most of us never learn this until our rights are impinged upon by our employer's behavior. In your case, Mary, you do not have the right to privacy at work. The U.S. Supreme Court has recognized a right to privacy since the 1920s, but they have never addressed the question of whether employees ought to have the right to privacy at work. Your desk, your lockers, your email and voicemail--it's all the boss' property and thereby subject to his peeking and poking. I'm sorry you're having this problem with your unstable former co-worker, but it's even more disturbing to me--and to readers of Working Stiff--that your supervisors are sticking their noses into your mail, email, and messages no matter who's sending them! |
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