Assignment: Privacy Concerns Scenario

1. James is known to shop online during his breaks. His supervisor has taken note of this. When James went to lunch at noon, Sally, his supervisor, was seen taking his laptop into her office so she could "check on his work performance."

2. Janet's secretary, Tom, always prescreens her calls before transferring them to her office. Occasionally, Tom will stay on the line after Janet picks up to listen in on the conversation. Janet is unaware of this and has not given Tom permission to do so. To his coworkers, Tom always seems to be "in the know," but they have no idea how he finds out such sensitive information.

3. Richard is hiring a new executive assistant. He wants to be sure the person he hires is a "good fit" for the company. He hires someone to perform a criminal background check on each of the two applicants being considered. Richard did not secure permission from Mary, one of the applicants. He did ask the second applicant, Martin, for permission, but Martin declined to give permission.

4. Douglas routinely bypasses the internet blocks on his work computer to surf non-work related websites during the work day. After a few weeks, he gets called into his supervisor's office to meet with a representatives from the IT department and HR. They begin asking questions about the sites he has visited and initiate the disciplinary process to issue him his first warning.

5. Jim routinely works out with Inez, an HR representative. One day, in conversation, Inez mentions his ongoing health issue that he has not disclosed to anyone in the company. He wonders how Inez came across this information. She stated that she had seen it in his health benefits paperwork.

6. Marc is interested in establishing a relationship with a co-worker, Beth, but he does not have any personal information about her. Marc asked his sister, Marion, who works for the Department of Justice, if she can access information about Beth. Marionprovides Marc with Beth's cell phone number and address, but tellsMarc to keep the information private.

Worksheet

Complete the table in a total of 525 to 700 words after reading each privacy concerns scenario.

Identify the privacy concerns highlighted in the scenario.

How could these privacy concerns create risk for the employer?

Identify solutions for the employer to minimize or eliminate the risk of violation of privacy.