The relationship between employers and employees is fraught with tensions. The Privacy in the Workplace dossier informs about the legal frameworks within this tricky playing field.

A person also has a right to privacy in the workplace. It is important for an employer to know that its employees are productive and are primarily doing what they are paid to do. Because of an employer's authority over an employee, discussions about "the sick employee" and room for working from home take on a different connotation. To what extent should an employer assume the integrity of his employees and what options does an employer have to control his employees?

In the process, employers are getting more and more ways to monitor employees' activities. Think of e-mail tracking, Internet and other ICT applications such as geo-location and camera surveillance. Not to mention peeks into personal lives when they meet online as well. Both employers and employees are increasingly asking questions about privacy.

Because of these questions and tensions, it is important that privacy in the workplace receive proper attention.