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Employee Pictures on Company Intranet
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Employee Pictures on Company Intranet
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We're an organization consisting of almost 200 employees, a fair portion that do not have computer access given their positions. I have been receiving numerous complaints as our IT dept is using emplo
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Forums » Topic Forums » Legal Forum » Employee Pictures on Company Intranet
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Employee Pictures on Company Intranet
posted at 1/11/2011 11:44 AM EST
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Posts: 8
First: 3/28/2006 Last: 2/28/2011 |
We're an organization consisting of almost 200 employees, a fair portion that do not have computer access given their positions. I have been receiving numerous complaints as our IT dept is using employee pictures in conjunction with MS outlook 2010 email messaging. I cannot find any literature as to the appropriateness of this, from either a legal or ethical standpoint in the State of Ohio. The question is, do the employees have the right to request that pictures not be used even though said pictures only appear internally.
thanks, Mary |
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Employee Pictures on Company Intranet
posted at 1/11/2011 12:30 PM EST
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Posts: 562
First: 11/12/2009 Last: 9/14/2011 |
Why are they doing this?
I can think of no valid reason to do so, especially in such a small company. My guess is that there's some person in IT who thinks its a cute idea and that's the sole rationale. |
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Employee Pictures on Company Intranet
posted at 1/12/2011 6:46 AM EST
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Posts: 118
First: 2/28/2008 Last: 7/29/2011 |
I worked in a hospital where someone refused to have their picture taken for ID purposes and was terminated. The person filed a lawsuit based on the fact that it was against her religious practices to have their pictures taken. The person got lost wages and their job back.
Based on that, I'd never force someone to have their picture used. I can not see the benefit outweighing the risk. |
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Employee Pictures on Company Intranet
posted at 1/12/2011 7:11 AM EST
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Posts: 2146
First: 2/15/2006 Last: 9/14/2011 |
Here's the best article I have read about it:
http://thatcreditunionblog.wordpress.com/2008/08/20/using-employee-pictures-and-related-items-without-consent/ "...A majority of states including Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois and New Jersey have judicially recognized the right to privacy in case law. However, most states have not codified this right. Nevertheless, state court rulings across the country have been consistent with Restatement (2ND) of Torts § 652C, which provides âOne who appropriates to his own use or benefit the name or likeness of another is subject to liability to the other for invasion of privacy...." |
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Employee Pictures on Company Intranet
posted at 1/12/2011 9:07 AM EST
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Posts: 2442
First: 2/12/2000 Last: 9/14/2011 |
rrupert-The article you provided is really not on point as it relates to external marketing of products or services using a picture of the employee and the right to privacy.
The question posted here seems to have more to with internal email and a picture of the staff person as part of the email. Not a privacy issue since we have the right to see each other on the job and putting faces to names of our coworkers seem like an appropriate use of a picture. |
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Employee Pictures on Company Intranet
posted at 1/12/2011 11:15 AM EST
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Posts: 8
First: 3/28/2006 Last: 2/28/2011 |
Therein lies the rub. We are small enough that we can just go down a hallway to see whoever we want, so my take is that it's just an IT, "oh, this is neat, let's do it." However, there appears to be no legal recourse even though quite a number of staff are not comfortable with their picture being displayed on our intranet email messaging.
thanks for the feedback, appreciate it. |
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Employee Pictures on Company Intranet
posted at 1/13/2011 1:38 AM EST
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Posts: 1771
First: 10/24/2002 Last: 9/14/2011 |
There may be no legal recourse in that the employees can't sue your company for doing this, however, the company would be perfectly within its legal rights to order IT staff to stop this practice, and to fire said IT staff if they refuse to comply.
Given that this practice is creating such discomfort, anatgonism and complaints, I wonder why this hasn't been done? |
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Employee Pictures on Company Intranet
posted at 1/13/2011 6:51 AM EST
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Posts: 2146
First: 2/15/2006 Last: 9/14/2011 |
agree with hrbth....even if it is not illegal, it IS causing contention for something that is NOT needed. It would be different if it were needed say for security reasons -- that there was a guard that checked a picture against the person claiming to be the employee, etc.
But if there is not a solid business reason, I don't see why there is even an argument. That said, where did the pictures come from in the first place? How did IT get the pictures without the person knowing? Were they from another source? Did the employee know/approve of the other reason? I can't say we have pictures of any of our employees! |
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Employee Pictures on Company Intranet
posted at 1/18/2011 5:22 AM EST
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Posts: 1
First: 1/18/2011 Last: 1/18/2011 |
It is not clear to me how the pictures are used. Is it pictures attached to the individual's email address or is it random pictures of staff (maybe working action shots) attached to any email going out? In the first case it seems unnecessary. If the idea is to associate visuals from the company with an email, then there should have been consent from those in the picture for it to be used in that way. |
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