Litigation Support

The Califonia Supreme Court issued an interesting opinion on August 3rd in Hernandez v. Hillsides, Inc. The ruling takes a sensible, practical approach, finding that employees have a reasonable expectation of privacy at work, but that hidden video surveillance may be ok where an employer has "legitimate business concerns."

Two employees at the Pasadena's Hillsides Children's Center found the recording equipment in an office they shared. The Center houses abused children, many of them sexually and physically abused. The Center's Executive Director had installed the camera in an unsuccessful attempt to catch someone who had been viewing pornography in that ofice in the wee hours of the morning.

Neither of the employees were suspects and the camera was only set to record after hours, but the women were upset when they found the camera and sued for invasion of privacy.

The trial court granted summary judgment to the Center, but the ruling was reversed on appeal. Justice Marvin Baxter wrote for a unanimous court, "Activation of the surveillance system was narrowly tailored in place, time and scope, and was prompted by legitimate business concerns . . . Plaintiffs were not at risk of being monitored or recorded during regular work hours and were never actually caught on camera or videotape."

The court made it clear that employees do have rights of privacy at the workplace, and that this was a narrow decision based on the facts of the case.

Where the line will ultimately be drawn is as yet unknown, but I thought it interesting that the original trial court granted summary judgment - and the Supreme Court appeared to validate that, perhaps obviating the need for a trial in such cases.

Like a book with a let-down ending, we still don't know who was actually viewing the pornography, though my vote goes to the office cleaning crew . . . 

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