On-duty and Off-duty: Employee Right to Privacy and Employer’s Right to Control in the Private Sector

The changing legal landscape of the right of the employer to control and monitor employee behavior is examined. Two distinct areas are defined: behavioral monitoring and behavioral restrictions. Relevant statutory laws and the developing common law are discussed. We also examine potential employee reactions to such policies by evaluating the reactions of graduate students to six employer policies including weight restrictions, grooming requirements, use of GPS locators, drug testing, ban on off-duty smoking, and email and internet monitoring. Students responded to these policies by determining the reasonable interest of the employer in the behaviors being monitored or controlled and the manner in which policies were implemented. Their comments suggest that employees may accept some level of monitoring or behavioral restrictions if the employer can make a convincing social account of the need for a policy. Additionally, the policy must be clearly communicated and properly implemented. However, restrictions on off-duty behavior were typically poorly received with the exception of illegal drug use.     

Job Security Rights: The Effects of Specific Policies and Practices on the Evaluation of Employers

The effects of specific policies and practices regarding employee job security rights on the evaluation of employers was investigated in two contexts. First, an experimental design was used to investigate the effect of explicit at-will and explicit good-cause policies on future job seekers' evaluation for a company's attractiveness and their willingness to sign up for an interview. The results support the argument that the kind of rights employers offer, or expressly deny, can significantly effect recruitment outcomes. Second, the potential role of formal employment at-will agreements as a source of inferences about the employer was investigated using open-ended questions that were responded to by currently employed managers and future job seekers. The results indicate that the use of formal at-will agreements may lead to a variety of negative inferences, giving employers reason to be concerned about the effect of such practices on employee relations.     

The employer as social arbiter: Considerations in limiting involvement in off-the-job behavior

This article analyzes the trend of increasing employer involvement in social issues through human resource policies that influence employee behavior off the job and away from the workplace. Many employers are increasingly acting as social arbiters—regulators of the private conduct, personal behaviors, and habits of their employees. Relying on historical perspectives from (1) an exchange transaction economic view of the employment relationship, and (2) the origins and nature of the corporate form, a framework is developed to analyze the conditions under which employer involvement in employee personal matters may be appropriate. Our criteria generally guide an employer to act conservatively in invoking mandatory policies that affect employees' personal lives unless there is a clear individual employee performance problem or the personal behavior imposes harm on employees or customers. Two tests should be satisfied for mandatory programs: (1) the policy must have a discernible impact on the employee's performance on the current job based on individually based data, or (2) the behavior poses an immediate danger to or has an established discernible impact on the safety of co-workers or customers. The difficulties that may arise in administering specific polices such as no smoking, drug and medical testing, child care, and fitness policies are discussed.     

Legal and Ethical Implications of Corporate Social Networks

Corporate social networking sites provide employees and employers with considerable opportunity to share information and become friends. Unfortunately, American and international laws do not directly address social networking site usage. The National Labor Relations Act, civil rights laws, and various common law doctrines such as employment at-will and defamation provide the pattern for future social networking laws. Ethical considerations such as productivity, security, goodwill, privacy, accuracy, and discipline fairness also affect future laws. Corporate policies on corporate social networking should balance the employer’s and employee’s interests. Existing laws and ethical issues associated with social networking should impact social networking policies related to configuration, communication, discipline, and evaluation of policies. Corporate social networking policies should be business-related, ensure user notification of monitoring, maintain adequate records, and provide for reliable, consistent, and impersonal evaluation of monitoring effectiveness.     

Changing Organizational Forms and the Employment Relationship

This paper draws upon new research in the UK into the relationship between changing organizational forms and the reshaping of work in order to consider the changing nature of the employment relationship. The development of more complex organizational forms – such as cross organization networking, partnerships, alliances, use of external agencies for core as well as peripheral activities, multi‐employer sites and the blurring of public/private sector divide – has implications for both the legal and the socially constituted nature of the employment relationship. The notion of a clearly defined employer–employee relationship becomes difficult to uphold under conditions where employees are working in project teams or on‐site beside employees from other organizations, where responsibilities for performance and for health and safety are not clearly defined, or involve more than one organization. This blurring of the relationship affects not only legal responsibilities, grievance and disciplinary issues and the extent of transparency and equity in employment conditions, but also the definition, constitution and implementation of the employment contract defined in psychological and social terms. Do employees perceive their responsibilities at work to lie with the direct employer or with the wider enterprise or network organization? And do these perceptions affect, for example, how work is managed and carried out and how far learning and incremental knowledge at work is integrated in the development of the production or service process? So far the investigation of both conflicts and complementarities in the workplace have focused primarily on the dynamic interactions between the single employer and that organization’s employees. The development of simultaneously more fragmented and more networked organizational forms raises new issues of how to understand potential conflicts and contradictions around the ‘employer’ dimension to the employment relationship in addition to more widely recognized conflicts located on the employer–employee axis.     

Review of no-fault absenteeism cases taken to arbitration, 1980–1989: A rights and responsibilities analysis

No-fault absenteeism control programs represent an emerging counterpoint to traditional misconduct-based approaches. By altering the policies governing absence in the work place, the rights and responsibilities of both the employee and employer may be modified. This article examines the arbitral standards applied in the disposition of grievances arising under no-fault absenteeism plans. Arbitration cases from 1980 to 1989 are analyzed; a taxonomic structure for reviewing arbitrator rulings on the unilateral imposition of no-fault programs, as well as discipline and discharge arising under no-fault policies, is developed. While advocates of no-fault plans have asserted that arbitrators will embrace these plans, the results of this analysis indicate that arbitrators will infuse standard elements of reasonableness and just cause into no-fault policy. Trends in arbitral standards in absence cases, policy-making strategies for managements and unions, as well as implications for the rights and responsibilities of employees and employers are outlined.     

Perspectives on Disability Disclosure: The Importance of Employer Practices and Workplace Climate

Disclosing a disability to a potential or current employer is a very personal decision, with potentially far-reaching consequences for both the employer and employee. Disability disclosure can assure that employees receive appropriate workplace accommodations, and can help employers respond more effectively to diversity and inclusion initiatives aimed at increasing the hiring and retention of individuals with disabilities. However, disclosure may also result in negative employment consequences for employees, such as lowered supervisor expectations, isolation from co-workers, and increased likelihood of termination. Given demographic trends related to disability in the labor force and recent initiatives to increase the employment of individuals with disabilities, it is increasingly important that employers create an environment that encourages disclosure and reduces the likelihood of negative consequences for employees and applicants who disclose their disabilities. This paper presents the findings of a survey of individuals with disabilities focused on identifying and better understanding the factors that influence the disclosure decision. Results highlight the barriers and facilitators that influence individuals’ decision to disclose and the important role that employers, managers, and workplace climate play in the decision. Implications for employer policy and practice are also discussed.     

Employer‐supported volunteering benefits: Gift exchange among employers,employees, and volunteer organizations

Using gift exchange theory to explain the growing trend of employers offering employer‐supported volunteering (ESV) benefits, this article discusses the creation of exchange relationships between the employer and employee and between the volunteer organization and employee. Hypotheses derived from the employee's perspective are tested with a nationally representative sample of volunteers (n=3,658). Findings suggest that ESV benefits are positively related to hours volunteered by the employee. Volunteer hours predict employee perceptions of skill acquisition, and such perceptions are positively related to perceptions of job success and employer recognition. We discuss the implications of these findings for business, employees, and volunteer organizations, with an emphasis on human resource management policy and practice. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Employer Penalties for Failure to Provide Individual Employee Notification Under the Family and Medical Leave Act: “Clarifications” Following Ragsdale v. Wolverine Worldwide, Inc.

This article examines the Supreme Court's ruling in Ragsdale v. Wolverine Worldwide, Inc. (2002) and considers its implications for employer and employee rights and responsibilities relative to implementing the FMLA policies. We provide an overview of the pre-decision regulatory environment including the general leave provisions of the FMLA and DOL's regulations requiring employer notification of leave designated as FMLA leave. We also identify those provisions that the decision did not alter and provide a broader consideration of the issues and implication of this decision for employers and employees.     

Managing Telework Programs Effectively

Telework has greatly increased in both popularity and use in recent years. The original impetus behind telework has shifted over the years away from social responsibility as employers have come to realize the significant benefits they can reap from a well-designed and implemented telework program. Despite the well-documented environmental, societal, employer and employee benefits associated with telework, telework changes the nature of the employer–employee relationship and can have some detrimental effects on an organizations if not implemented strategically. This paper explores the prevalence of and benefits and limitations associated with telework and provides recommendations as to how to most effectively implement telework.     

Employee benefits: A growing source of psychological contract violations

Since the 1940s, the number of employee benefits provided by employers and costs related to these benefits have increased dramatically. However, in the face of intensified product market competition, more and more organizations are decreasing their benefits packages as part of broader efforts to decrease labor costs. At the same time, many employees have become dependent on employer-provided benefits to help satisfy basic security needs. This article examines the evolution of this predicament and the associated consequences that are likely to arise as a result of this conflict between worker expectations and employer practices. Ideas for resolution of this employee–employer conflict are also discussed.     

Theorizing the relationship between discretionary employee benefits and individual performance

The literature on compensation has devoted little attention to the relationship between discretionary employee benefits and individual performance, perhaps because benefits are allocated equally to large groups of employees, are not tied to individual performance, and are viewed as entitlements. Discretionary benefits include all the benefits an employer provides to employees voluntarily (i.e., not legally required). Employees can use internet search tools to make comparisons between focal and referent firms of their expenditures on discretionary benefits, which can symbolize employer support for employee well-being or invoke perceptions of equity. In our paper, we provide a novel insight into the relationship between discretionary benefits and employee individual performance through a theoretical lens that combines insights from organizational support theory and equity theory shaped by perceptions of social and economic exchange relationships. In our conceptual model we develop theoretical logic that explains that perceived discretionary benefits, moderated by benefits satisfaction and mediated by perceived organizational support and perceived equity, are linked to individual performance. The paper concludes with a discussion of the theoretical implications and directions for future research.     

Regulating employment relations through workplace learning: a study of small employers

Using data from two employer samples, the article develops our understanding of small business employee skill formation and development processes in three main ways. First, it focuses on learning (what employees do) rather than on providing training (what employers do), as it is employee learning which influences individual and organisational performance. Second, it challenges the dominant focus on external training by presenting data on employer enablement of workplace employee learning and their motives for this. The diversity of workplace learning practices and their importance in smaller businesses are highlighted. Third, it situates workplace learning processes firmly within the context of the employment relationship, one in which employers and employees pursue distinctive interests in enabling/participating in learning.     

Profiling employees online: shifting public–private boundaries in organisational life

Profiling involves the collection and use of online information about prospective and current employees to evaluate their fitness for and in the job. Workplace and legal studies suggest an expanded use of profiling and significant legal/professional implications for HRM practitioners, yet scant attention has been afforded to the boundaries of such practices. In this study, profiling is framed as a terrain on which employees and employers assert asymmetrical interests. Using survey data from large samples in Australia and the UK, the study investigates the prevalence and outcomes of profiling; the extent to which employees assert a right to privacy versus employer rights to engage in profiling; the extent to which organisations codify profiling practices; and employee responses in protecting online information. The findings contribute to a small and emerging body of evidence addressing how social media conduct at work is reconstituting and reshaping the boundaries between public and private spheres.     

Workplace Privacy: Employee Relations and Legal Implications of Monitoring Employee E-mail Use

The tradeoff between employees’ workplace privacy and employers’ need to protect company assets, safeguard proprietary information, and avoid costly litigation has been receiving increased attention (Lee and Kleiner 2003; Mello 2003; National Workplace Institute 2004). This tradeoff often favors employers, as the legal system provides much leeway for employers to monitor employees’ electronic communications in the workplace. However, employers need to consider the effect such monitoring has on their employees since employee and employer attitudes about monitoring often diverge. In this article, we explore workplace email monitoring from both employee relations and legal perspectives and discuss implications for employee morale. An earlier version of this research was presented at the 2005 Association on Employment Practices and Principles Conference, Baltimore, MD.     

LEEping into the future of labor economics: the research potential of linking employer and employee data

Linked employer–employee (LEE) data sets are a new and increasingly available tool for research in labor economics. This study indicates a variety of areas in which this tool might be useful and offers a large number of research questions that can be studied with LEE data. Any area where we believe that outcomes are generated by interactions of employers and workers can be profitably analyzed using such data. The answers generated by these studies can enhance our understanding of nearly every labor-market policy.     

Stress: The legal and organizational implications

Evolving legal trends, as well as court cases in which stress related to employment situations led to liability for the employer, were reviewed and summarized. These results were integrated with those in current empirical stress research in order to identify potential areas of concern for managers. This unified approach was then used to examine some common organizational situations and to suggest practices, policies, and procedures that may be useful in reducing or eliminating the harmful effects of stress on employees. It was concluded that, while employers must be knowledgeable about general stressors likely to affect employee well-being, they must also identify factors unique to their own situations. The responsibility of the manager in analyzing the work situation and responding to the individuals involved is emphasized.     

Employees are paying for poor health habits

Realizing that corporate America may have limited control over how and when medical services are delivered, employers are beginning to attack the demand side of the health-care equation. That is, improving employee health status should result in a lower demand for medical services. However, to realize significant medical-claims savings, employers must encourage the least healthy employees both to enroll in work-site health-promotion programs and to permanently change their health-risk behaviors. One way to accomplish these objectives is to shift more financial risk onto employees by redesigning the company's medical benefit plan. As the 1990s progress and as medical costs continue to spiral upward, we are bound to observe greater employer involvement in employees' life-styles, both at work and at home. The bounds of discrimination and privacy laws will be tested as companies employ more restrictive policies and benefit plan designs to encourage employees to modify current poor-risk behaviors.     

Skill gaps in the workplace: measurement,determinants and impacts

Optimal training decisions require employers to have accurate information about their workers’ training needs. However, little is known with regard to the key factors determining the accurate transmission of worker training requirements. Using one of the few linked employer–employee surveys in the world, the 2006 Irish National Employment Survey, this article identifies the key factors determining the correct identification of skill gaps within firms. The impact of skill gaps on average training expenditures and labour costs is also measured. The research finds that both HRM and collective bargaining arrangements are important factors in facilitating the accurate identification of skill gaps within firms. The analysis confirms that skill gaps are a key determinant of training expenditures and tend to raise average labour costs. Finally, the evidence suggests that employee perceptions of skill gaps may be prone to higher levels of subjective bias relative to those based on the employers’ views.     

Optimal multiple stopping models of reload options and shout options

The reload provision in an employee stock option entitles its holder to receive one new (reload) option from the employer for each share tendered as the payment of strike upon the exercise of the stock option. The number of reloads allowed can be finite or infinite. The shout feature in a call option allows its holder to reset the option's strike price to the prevailing stock price upon shouting. We explore a symmetry relationship between the price functions of the employee reload options and shout call options. When the dividend yield of the underlying stock is zero, the value of the employee reload option can be expressed in terms of the price functions of a shout call option and a forward contract. For an employee reload option with an infinite number of allowable reloads, the payoff of the employee reload option can be related to the lookback feature of the stock price process. We also examine the optimal exercise policies of the multi-reload employee stock options. The behavior of the critical stock price at which the holder should exercise optimally is shown to depend on the relative magnitude of the dividend yield, interest rate and volatility. Our analysis of the multi-reload and multi-shout options contributes to the literature on optimal stopping policies of contingent claims with multiple stopping rights.