Long gone are the days when the division between an employee’s work and personal life was clearly defined by the physical act of walking through the doors of the workplace. Today, smartphones, laptops and PDAs keep individuals “connected” without interruption and can quickly disseminate their personal information into public and private domains on the Internet. This reality, in addition to the plethora of government and private web-based databases, means that there is more information available on the Internet about employees than ever before. The availability of all this information has broken down many of the traditional barriers that once created natural division between an individual’s work and home life.
These advances in technology and information sharing have put employers in a bind. Employers must be vigilant in taking steps to prevent liability that could result from negligent hiring practices, unaddressed or unresolved claims of discrimination, or harassment, policy violations and the like. On the one hand, these technological advances can assist employers in meeting their legal obligations. Yet if employers act too quickly in using the tools at their disposal, they could face liability for violating an employee’s or job applicant’s privacy, speech or labor rights under a host of new state statutes and federal regulations and administrative decisions. It appears that by enacting these new laws, government is attempting to restore some of the boundaries that technology has for better or worse taken away.
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