Employee Data, Monitoring and Privacy

A note on the current law and best practice for employers seeking to check the criminal records of prospective and current employees, as well as those of other workers and volunteers. It considers the questions that employers can ask, taking account of the regime of spent and unspent convictions under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (SI 1975/1023). The note also considers the circumstances in which checks through the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) (formed when the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) merged on 1 December 2012) are available. It takes account of the reform of the regime made by the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012.

A note which describes the data protection and employment issues that arise when European companies listed at US stock exchanges set up corporate compliance (whistleblowing) hotlines in order to fulfil obligations under section 301(4) of the US Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002. The note also discusses recent regulatory developments in the EU relating to whistleblowing hotlines, and suggests compliance strategies to ensure that hotlines comply with EU data protection laws.

Data subject access requests are often used as a tool in disputes between employers and employees. This practice note considers the nature of an employee's rights and an employers' obligations to provide information under section 7 of the Data Protection Act 1998.

A Note discussing employee rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and the issues employers should consider when seeking to discipline employees for the content of social media posts. This Note considers only the employee protections under the NLRA. This Note includes references to NLRB precedent issued after January 4, 2012 by recess appointees to the NLRB. In Noel Canning v. NLRB, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held that the recess appointments to the NLRB were invalid, calling into question whether any of the NLRB's decisions since January 4, 2012 are enforceable. Despite the DC Circuit's holding, the NLRB continues to issue decisions by the recess appointees, seek enforcement of those decisions and rely on the recess appointees' decisions as governing law (see Legal Update, DC Circuit Rules NLRB Recess Appointments Were Unconstitutional; Enforceability of All Recess Appointees' Decisions in Doubt). PLC Labor & Employment will continue to monitor developments and update this resource to reflect applicable law.

A template briefing for an in house lawyer to give all nonunionized employees regarding work-related e-mail and online risk. Employers with unionized employees, who are covered by collective bargaining agreements, must consider additional factors that are outside the scope of this briefing (see Practice Note, Employee Handbooks: Best Practices: Collective Bargaining Obligations). Click here to download in Microsoft Word.

A note on the European Convention on Human Rights and its interaction with the Human Rights Act 1998 including links to relevant PLC content.

This practice note considers the circumstances in which an employer might need to obtain a medical report on employees or workers and the steps that an employer must take when requesting a medical report (whether from a general practitioner, a specialist consultant, a company doctor or an occupational health specialist). It considers the impact of the Access to Medical Reports Act 1988, the Data Protection Act 1988 and the use of medical reports in tribunal proceedings.

This Note describes trade secrets and confidential information protections available to employers. It examines trade secret definitions and legal recourse, including misappropriation, tortious interference and breach of duty of loyalty and/or fiduciary duty claims. It also explores relevant restrictive covenants and best practices. This Note provides a general overview of federal law in this area. For information on state law, see the State Law Q&A Tools under Related Content to the right.

This practice note explains when a business can record telephone calls with third parties, such as customers or employees, and also the implications of recording face-to-face meetings.

A Practice Note discussing the legal risks associated with the use of social media.