Common Law and Privacy

Описание: Individuals, including employees, have a common law remedy for invasion of privacy. One fundamental way in which privacy is violated is by others snooping, prying, or otherwise engaging in unwarranted intrusions into one’s private affairs. To establish that privacy has been invaded in this manner, a plaintiff must show that an intentional intrusion into his or her solitude or private affairs occurred, and the nature of the intrusion was such that it would be highly offensive to a reasonable person.

Also, if the intrusion is successfully repelled, there is no invasion of privacy. When an employee refused her employer’s demand to turn over her private cell phone records for an investigation, the employee had no privacy claim. Another way that privacy can be violated is by taking private and sensitive information and indiscriminately bandying it about. To establish a public disclosure of private facts claim, plaintiffs must show that private facts of their lives were broadly disclosed to others in a manner that would be highly offensive to a reasonable person.

Most privacy tort claims arising in the workplace are of the two preceding varieties. However, an individual’s privacy can also be violated by placement in a false light. In false light claims, the plaintiff must show that false information was broadly and knowingly publicized, and being placed in this false light would be highly offensive to a reasonable person. Employees also occasionally allege privacy violations through appropriation of a name or likeness. In appropriation claims, the symbolic value of one’s name or likeness, which others then use for commercial gain or for other ends, is at issue.

A variety of other common law tort claims are often raised in conjunction with privacy claims. Perhaps the most common of these is intentional infliction of emotional distress. Other tort claims that arise in the context of handling employee information or investigating employee conduct include defamation and malicious prosecution.