Can an employer intrude into your life

Where is the line between personal life and work responsibilities

The first impulse when asked "Can an employer get into personal life?" - answer no. From a moral point of view, it seems that no one has the right to dictate what to do, and even more so to check how you live, if this does not affect the quality of your work. But from the point of view of the law, this is not entirely true.

Business hours are not a time for privacy. If you are in the office during the period specified in your employment contract, then the employer has the right to control you. For example, he can hang up a video camera to check what you are doing. However, there are several conditions that the organization must fulfill in order not to violate your rights.

The company must notify employees about video surveillance and obtain their consent to this. If the employer spies on employees secretly, he can be brought to administrative responsibility.

Pavel Korneev Leading Lawyer of the European Legal Service

It is unpleasant to be under constant surveillance, even if you are not doing anything reprehensible. But, alas, the alternatives here are simple: do not work in a company where video cameras are hung in the offices, or try to understand why this is done. Usually the reason is not the tyrant boss, and no one will scold you for picking your nose in the workplace.

For example, in an office with a large flow of clients, video cameras will help to identify a thief if someone loses a wallet from a bag. And video recording from the production department will help to establish the causes of the injury: the company is to blame or the employee himself.

With amateurs, getting access to the contents of the computer and connecting to the screen at any time is somewhat more difficult. On the one hand, the device belongs to the company, and you have to work during working hours. So there should be nothing personal on the screen at this moment. On the other hand, constitutional rights also mean something.

An employer must not violate Articles 23 and 24 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which guarantee everyone the right to freedom, inviolability of private life, personal and family secrets, and protection of their honor and good name. If it is established that the boss has gained access to personal correspondence, the employee may well sue.

Evgeny Ivanov is a lawyer of the European Legal Service

Usually, in order to exclude such situations, the company simply blocks access to social networks and other sites for correspondence, restricts the ability to install instant messengers. And, in fact, the very fact of using services bypassing blocking can cause questions to you.

Is there any personal life outside the office

You leave the office and close the door - it would seem that work is behind and you can do anything. However, this is not quite true. Here the line between law and morality becomes even more blurred. So, in theory, the employer is not violating anything, but in practice, such interference can be unpleasant.

For example, suppose you are on sick leave to look after a child and find out that a company representative called the school or daycare center to find out if the toddler was really sick. This is not prohibited by law, but the residue remains: they do not trust you.

In some areas, the security service may be interested in your relationship. For example, if you work at the cash register in a bank, the institution will not be enthusiastic about your connection with yesterday's prisoner. You can only punish a company if your privacy has suffered from the actions of its employees. For example, the organization gained access to intimate photographs of an employee and made them public. And just to find out and talk with you about the inadmissibility of such a relationship is legal.

It is worth making a reservation: there are, alas, not one or two cases when a bank teller steals an amount of several million or even tens of millions of rubles for the sake of a life partner.

Evgeny Ivanov is a lawyer of the European Legal Service

For example, in Bashkiria, a cashier stole 25 million because of her husband's debts. In Khimki, a bank employee, together with a roommate, stole 21 million from the vault.

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An even more slippery issue is control over appearance and behavior. A dress code may be entered for company business hours. This is drawn up by the relevant local act, with which you are obliged to acquaint. As for the appearance of an employee outside the working walls, it is also not prohibited by law to interfere - exactly as long as you do not consider that your rights have been violated.

In case of excesses in the field, you can always contact the Ministry of Labor for a written explanation or immediately file a lawsuit.

The exception is employees in the education sector. Teachers, kindergarten teachers, teachers of additional education for children and adults can be fired for an immoral act. Moreover, this term has no definition, everything remains at the discretion of the employer. For example, in Omsk, a teacher was fired for a photo in a swimsuit.

There are several more categories of workers who should be more careful: judges, lawyers, military, police, officials. Here, it may be better to listen to the leader and slow down, otherwise the case may end in a scandal and dismissal.

Why legal doesn't mean normal

Work and personal life: why legal doesn't mean ok

For rudeness, ignorance, unhealthy curiosity, there are no articles in the Criminal Code and the Administrative Offenses Code, but this does not make them more pleasant. From a person with whom we communicate on equal terms, we do not allow this. But the relationship with the employer is different. There is a clear hierarchy in them, and many are ready to endure more from the boss than they should. That is why, in adequate companies, romantic relationships between a manager and a subordinate are often prohibited: you can never be sure that an ordinary employee made contact voluntarily, and was not forced to do so.

This also applies to interference with privacy. Often, the subordinate appears to be something like an unreasonable youth whom a wise elder teaches in a fatherly way, from the height of past years. Only it doesn't work that way. First, a specialist in his own field may be an absolute layman in others. Secondly, your love life is none of his business.

If you cope with the work, do not violate the laws, provisions from the employment contract and local acts, then you are not obliged to comply with any whim of the management.

You will have to decide what to do right if your boss interferes in your life. To say that it is enough to endure this is too arrogant, since a lot depends on earnings.

But it would be wrong to believe that an employment relationship in which management considers itself to have the right to be rude and teach you life is the norm. The bosses are not a kind fairy who gives you money. Serfdom has been abolished, and you are full-fledged participants in the work process. It also happens differently - it is important to keep in mind in case you think there is no way out.

Well, if you feel the inclinations of a revolutionary in yourself, just talk to your boss - gently and without rudeness, you do not need to be like. It is possible that after that you still have to quit. And formally not because of the conversation: you may, for example, stop paying the bonus. Management has the leverage to make your company unbearable. But this way you will at least be the first to make it clear that what is happening is not normal.