Ensuring employee privacy at the workplace: current state and problems

In the article, based on the analysis of national legislation, international documents, national and international judicial practice, the views of scientists, the issue of ensuring the employee’s right to privacy at the workplace is considered. It is noted that today domestic labor legislation does not yet enshrine this right (the employee’s right to privacy at the workplace), which, in turn, contributes to abuse by the employer, and leads not only to an unsatisfactory level of protection of the constitutional right to respect for private life, and in the future may lead to the international recognition of Ukraine as a state that does not provide an adequate level of such protection, particularly in the field of labor. It is emphasized that in the conditions of martial law, the right to privacy may be limited by law in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public order in order to prevent riots or crimes, to protect public health, to protect the reputation or rights of other people, to prevent the disclosure of information, received confidentially, or to maintain the authority and impartiality of justice. As a result, it was concluded that the right to privacy at the workplace, which should be guaranteed to all employees regardless of the type of employment relationship, industry affiliation or form of ownership of the enterprise, should be established at the legislative level, taking into account international experience and judicial practice. Since the regulation of all aspects of the employee’s right to privacy in the workplace in the Ukrainian legislation will prevent abuse by the employer of employee control measures. In particular, supporting the proposals of other researchers, it is proposed to supplement the Code of Labor Laws of Ukraine with a rule that when concluding, changing and terminating an employment contract, persons entering work and employees are guaranteed the right to privacy regarding their personal and family life. At the same time, the limits, grounds and conditions of the employer’s interference with the employee’s right to privacy must meet three criteria: the legal grounds for the interference, the legitimate purpose of the interference, and the proportionality of such interference to the stated goal.