PLC Employee & Workplace Privacy 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), which exception allows employers to monitor employee communications on company-owned networks without employee consent?
- Business necessity exception
- Provider exception (Correct answer)
- Law enforcement exception
- Emergency exception
Correct answer: Provider exception
The provider exception allows employers who own and operate the communication system to monitor its use without needing employee consent.
Question 2: The Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA) generally prohibits private employers from:
- Conducting background checks on applicants
- Requiring or requesting lie detector tests (Correct answer)
- Monitoring employee internet usage
- Accessing employee medical records
Correct answer: Requiring or requesting lie detector tests
The EPPA prohibits most private employers from using lie detector tests for pre-employment screening or during employment, with limited exceptions for certain industries.
Question 3: Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), medical examinations of job applicants are permitted only:
- At any time with two weeks' written notice
- Before any interview is conducted
- After a conditional job offer has been extended (Correct answer)
- At the employer's sole discretion for safety-sensitive roles
Correct answer: After a conditional job offer has been extended
The ADA permits medical examinations only after a conditional job offer has been made, and pre-offer inquiries about disabilities are prohibited.
Question 4: The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires employers who use third-party agencies to conduct background checks to:
- Obtain a court order before accessing records
- Provide written disclosure and obtain written authorization from the applicant (Correct answer)
- Notify the state labor department of the background check
- Complete the check within 30 calendar days
Correct answer: Provide written disclosure and obtain written authorization from the applicant
The FCRA requires employers to provide a standalone written disclosure and obtain written authorization before procuring a consumer report for employment purposes.
Question 5: Which of the following best describes employee data protections under state-level privacy laws such as the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)?
- Employees have no privacy rights under any state privacy law
- Employers must delete all employee data upon request with no exceptions
- Employee data protections vary by state, employer size, and data type (Correct answer)
- All state privacy laws fully exempt employee data from any protections
Correct answer: Employee data protections vary by state, employer size, and data type
While the CCPA originally had a temporary employee exemption, amendments and state-specific variations mean employee data protections differ by jurisdiction, employer size, and category of data.
Question 6: The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) protects employees' rights to discuss which of the following with coworkers?
- Trade secrets and proprietary formulas
- Wages, hours, and working conditions (Correct answer)
- Confidential client information
- Company financial projections not yet disclosed publicly
Correct answer: Wages, hours, and working conditions
The NLRA protects concerted activity, including employees' rights to discuss wages, hours, and working conditions among themselves, and employer policies restricting such discussion may be unlawful.
Question 7: Employer workplace monitoring policies are most legally defensible when they:
- Are implemented secretly to detect policy violations without alerting employees
- Are disclosed in writing and employees are notified before monitoring begins (Correct answer)
- Target only employees currently under performance improvement plans
- Are limited exclusively to monitoring activities outside business hours
Correct answer: Are disclosed in writing and employees are notified before monitoring begins
Transparent monitoring policies that are disclosed in writing and communicated to employees before implementation are most legally defensible and reduce exposure to privacy claims.
PLC Employee & Workplace Privacy 1
Under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), which exception allows employers to monitor employee communications on company-owned networks without employee consent?