In various rulings, Israeli labor tribunals, have determined that the right to privacy (see: “Is the Right to Privacy a Constitutional Right?”) is also granted to a person within the workplace environment and in relation to the workplace information systems and devices, including email correspondence, applications, and portable devices.
These decisions include the seminal decision on workplace monitoring in LA 90/08 Isakov vs. Women’s Labor Law Director (8.2.2011) regarding an employer’s access to an employee’s email mailbox; and additional labor tribunal rulings, such as LD Anna Gorelik vs. Ilya Anbinder (21.4.2016( addressing the employer’s access to the employee’s cell phone; CDA 7541-04-14 The Southern Triangle Area New General Federation of Labor vs. Kalanswa’s municipality (15.3.2017), according to which an employee cannot be forced to use biometric systems in the workplace environments; CD 1026/06 The New General Workers’ Federation v. 5755 Oil and Energy Infrastructure Ltd. (20.9.2006) and VCR (Tel Aviv) 005298/09 Oded Rubin v. Oil and Energy Infrastructure Company (9.8.2009), both concerning employees’ cars monitoring by their employers; LD and (PR) 30929-12-10 Salman v. Alami (20.6.2012) regarding monitoring of an employee by hidden cameras;
The Privacy Protection Authority has also addressed some of the said topics as well as other privacy matter within the workplace environment on its published guidelines, including in relation to placement services, biometrics surveillance cameras, covid-19 related collection of data by employers and working from home.
The right to privacy was extended by Israeli labor tribunals to apply under certain circumstances to non employer-employee relations, i.e., to contractors and service providers (CAP 3661/16 Ramet vs. Rami Shamir – Civil Engineering (23.8.2016)).
