Technology vs privacy at work

Abstract

Employees' right to privacy and employers' extensive need for work-related information collide. The imbalance of authority between employers and employees and the doctrine of managerial prerogative determines the outcome of these competing interests, and therefore the right to privacy requires statutory protection. The study aims to examine the legislative (hard law) and law enforcement (soft law) achievements of European and Hungarian initiatives on organizational labor control mechanisms and to understand their possible limitations concerning the doctrine of managerial prerogative. The research method was a thematic document and literature review of appropriate legislation and case law records from the European Court of Human Rights, the Hungarian Supreme Court, and the Hungarian National Authority for Data Protection and Freedom of Information. The research results confirmed our hypothesis: current legal instruments seem to limit the control mechanisms of organizations, both in terms of content and process. However, rapid technological innovations make employee privacy a moving target, where the law provides only temporary and limited protection.