International Review of Law (Jun 2021)
The Legal and Moral Overlap Between Employee Privacy and Employer Protection in Distance Working: Exacerbated by the Covid-19 Situation
Abstract
Following the Covid-19 pandemic, several employees have suddenly been asked to work remotely. Legal clarity has now become required with regard to digital communications, specifically for distance-working contracts. Traditional contracts need to be adapted to clarify the rights, privacy and security concerns of both parties. This article focuses on the Middle-East where labour contracts rarely consider distance-working and the rights of neither employee nor employer are properly safeguarded. The paper analyses the legal position and mutual obligations of both parties, to give a new perspective on the employer-employee legal relationship. This article proposes a new definition of this relationship and new mutual employment contract guarantees. Employers must protect their data, security and resources; however, employee privacy is an inviolable constitutional principle. This comparative case study examines whether employers are legally permitted to monitor employees and collect their data and the risk of this data being used against the employee.
