Invasion of Privacy

In recent years, there has been a great increase in sensitivity to invasion of privacy. Laws have been passed and lawsuits have been filed in an effort to protect the privacy of individuals. In general, laws and lawsuits strive to prevent anyone from knowing anything about an individual that individual does not want to be known.

Protection of employee privacy can create problems. People are interested in peo­ple, and most people are willing to have favorable things said about themselves. The problem is to include the good things and avoid the others.

Much information to flesh out a story can be obtained by asking questions of each person involved, elicit facts that are interesting and favorable. After the story is written, show it to the person mentioned. If he or she objects to anything, take it out. Once the material has been approved, get the subject to sign it.

There may be times when a reporter will ask you for information about an employee. In general, most companies have adopted a policy of merely confirming that a person is employed and in what position. You can also tell a reporter the date on which the employee first joined the firm.

Under no circumstances should you take it upon yourself to tell a reporter an employee's home address, marital status, or number of children, nor should you reveal any aspect of a job performance record. If the reporter wants to know such things, the best approach is to say that you will ask the employee to call. In this way, the employee knows that an inquiry has been made and can determine what information is to be divulged. It also lets you and the company off the hook in terms of protecting the employee's privacy.

Another way for a company to protect itself against employees' invasion-of-priva­cy suits is to have a standard biographical form that each one fills out. At the top of this form should be a clear-cut statement that the information provided may be used in company publicity and employee newsletters.