Privacy and Security during the Times of the Corona-Pandemic

A special issue of Laws (ISSN 2075-471X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 9307

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
College of Applied Science and Technology, Illinois State University, Normal, IL 61761, USA
Interests: computer related crime; internet privacy and security; comparative law; international perceptions of consumer privacy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Covid-19 is changing the world. Not only does this pandemic challenge our daily lives in so many ways, it also impacts lawmakers, businesses, and politics. Will we be able to move beyond this crisis and still maintain many of the rights that we have enjoyed as private citizens in the past? Will some of those rights be curtailed because of the very pressing issue to get the spread of this pandemic or future pandemics under control? Will privacy ethics be balanced by governments around the globe, as they are on high alert and have started introducing apps that help track individuals’ movements in order to be able to predict when and where new infections may occur? Will companies be able to walk the fine line between business ethics and company survival? Many companies are developing mitigation plans to assure the safety of their employees and customers. Many politicians have developed communication plans to ensure that the population feels protected. How transparent will governments be, what actions will they take, and how will privacy ethics impact their policy making. In addition, the medical sector is developing plans to do better, faster, and more reliable testing in order to create projections and to better respond to medical needs in the future. Both vaccine development and antibody treatments have to be approved fast; in the USA, FDA approvals may be fast tracked, but how does this work in other countries around the world. Can doctors use approved drugs “off label” in order to find quicker remedies at their own volition? 

This Special Issue intends to cover current legal and ethical issues relating to the corona pandemic, including international, federal, regional, and local policy making; healthcare-related medical and privacy challenges; and company policies to protect both customers and employees, without overstepping ethical boundaries. We welcome contributions in these areas, including research-, theoretical-, policy-, and practice-based articles.

Prof. Dr. Klaus Schmidt
Guest Editor

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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11 pages, 207 KiB  
Article
Employment-at-Will in the United States and the Challenges of Remote Work in the Time of COVID-19
by Katrin Varner and Klaus Schmidt
Laws 2022, 11(2), 29; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws11020029 - 25 Mar 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 8521
Abstract
How should employers and employees negotiate the strange and unexpected issues that COVID-19 has forced us to confront in the past two years? Remote work, in particular, has dramatically changed the dynamic of many people’s jobs, often altering the tasks and boundaries of [...] Read more.
How should employers and employees negotiate the strange and unexpected issues that COVID-19 has forced us to confront in the past two years? Remote work, in particular, has dramatically changed the dynamic of many people’s jobs, often altering the tasks and boundaries of employment, blurring the lines between work and home, public and private. U.S. employment law, and particularly the powerful employment-at-will doctrine, sets a clear standard but can sometimes be a blunt instrument. Is there any nuance to be found, or to be desired, from employers in these unprecedented times of COVID-19? We will discuss the doctrine of employment-at-will, the standard it creates for American employment, and the various exceptions to it that have arisen over the past several decades. We will then examine a couple of hypothetical workplace scenarios that could arise in a work-from-home environment, discuss how current law would address them, and whether the letter of the law is the best source of guidance in these matters. We will further discuss the challenges faced by many companies as they attempt to deal with these abrupt changes to their working environments. What are the effects, if any, on long-standing employment traditions and practices? What are the legal issues that may arise from them? Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Privacy and Security during the Times of the Corona-Pandemic)
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