The Histadrut and the employers signed on June 25, a collective agreement in the private sector. This agreement settles the right of privacy of an employee regarding his personal use of computers in his/her work place if it is done according to the agreement* Israel is one of the first countries in the world, which has settled this issue by collective agreement* Eini and Brosh signed the agreement on June 25
The Histadrut and the Federation of Economic Organizations have reached a collective agreement, which settles the right of privacy of an employee regarding his/her personal use of computers in his/her work place. It is an innovative agreement since Israel is one of the first countries throughout the world that an employees' organization, and an employers' organization, signed an agreement regarding this matter.
The Chairman of the Federation of Economic Organizations, Mr. Shraga Brosh, and the Chairman of the Histadrut, Mr. Ofer Eini, signed the agreement on June 25 at the Industry Headquarters in Tel-Aviv. Brosh said: "everybody who will review this complicated agreement will be persuaded that the accord of labor relations, that both sides have achieved, is better than any legislation and probably also any judicial ruling. It is more balanced and the probability of enforcement is higher". Eini said: "it is an additional agreement signed within the framework of cooperation achieved in the last three years between the Histadrut and the employers".
The negotiation on the agreement began after an interim request of an employee, who filed a law suit against her employer at the Regional Labor Court in Tel-Aviv. The plaintiff requested to disqualify the copies of her e-mail messages, which were submitted to the court as evidence by her employer. The Regional Labor Court ruled against the employee in this interim request, stating that the ownership of property takes precedence over the privacy of the employee. The employee appealed to the National Labor Court in Jerusalem. Both the Histadrut and the employers separately joined the law suit as friends of the court, and announced during the deliberations their request to achieve an agreement regarding this matter. The Court agreed to the request and thus postponed the continuation of the deliberations.
The agreement determines that as an employee is entitled to use a computer in his/her work place for personal use which is subjected to the right of privacy, even when the usage is not related to his/her workplace, in moderation and for a reasonable amount of time, according to the provision of the law and contents of this agreement.
In addition, the agreement states that the employer has the right to determine rules of use and non use of computers in the work place as well as rules of different matters including: the issue of technology which coincides with business needs, use of different software, monitoring actions, adopting recognized rules of standards regarding security of information, etc. The rules of use will be for the implementation of the business goals and the appropriate goals will be brought to the attention of the employees. The employer will not abuse the dignity and the privacy of the employee from the personal information which will come to light from the implementation of these rules.
The agreement also determines that the employer can check the employee's computer, if there was a suspicion that it was used in order to violate the law or to harm the business. Nevertheless, the examination will be in moderation, held within a reasonable time frame, and as close as possible to the onset of the suspicions. Any access to the personal mailbox of the employee during an examination of the mails, which are addressed to the e-mail address of the employees solely and his/her private files, should receive the explicit approval from the employee. If he/she requests, the examination will be done in the employee's presence. The employer will try to minimize the harm done to the employee's privacy as a result of an examination of the use of personal information which was gathered in an examination, according to the terms of this agreement.
In addition, there are procedures within this agreement, for settling disputes between employers and employees. It is agreed that two joint committees will be established. One committee is to clarify disputes between employer and employee. A second one is to offer a legal interpretation of the agreement. Both employees and employers can appeal to the committee in order to clarify disputes. If an agreement is not reached at the committee level, each side is entitled to appeal the Labor Court.
The Histadrut and the employers will contact the Industry, Commerce and Employment Minister to request that he issues an extension order to this agreement. As a result, it will be valid for all employees and employers in Israel, including the government as an employer.
The agreement was formulated by the legal team of the Legal Deportment of the Trade Union Department, headed by Attorney Shy Teken, and the legal team of the Federation of Economic Organizations. The attorneys Hanna Shnitzer and Iris Vardi from the Legal Deportment of the Trade Union Department and legal advisers from the Federation of Economic Organizations also participated in the teams.