Abstract

The study analyses the statutory provisions of national and European legislation, the practice of the ECHR and national courts in protecting employees' right to privacy in the performance of labour functions. The problem of preserving the “private autonomy” of employees when the employer exercises control over the performance of such functions using technical means and methods is investigated. The need for a normative definition of the limits of restrictions on workers' rights and freedoms in the context of such control has been argued. The purpose of the study is to substantiate the expediency of normative consolidation in the national legislation of certain guarantees for employees in the event of interference of the employer's economic (disciplinary) authorities in the sphere of their private autonomy during the use of technical means. The scientific originality of the study is conditioned by the fact that the issue of the legality of wiretapping telephone conversations, control over electronic correspondence and communication of employees in social networks during the performance of their work functions is part of a set of publications on the limits of employer intervention using technical means in the private life of employees. The subject of the study shows the relevance of the regulatory definition of private autonomy of employees and its boundaries by national legislation regarding legal guarantees against employer encroachments. Protection of the rights of employees during the performance of their work functions from interference by the disciplinary authorities of the employer in the sphere of their private autonomy, surveillance of communication in electronic information networks, the content of telephone conversations, electronic, and other correspondence cannot be effective without a regulatory definition of the permissible limits of such interference in the private life of employees.