Privacy - Delaware

Summary of differences between federal and state regulations

Electronic monitoring

Under Delaware state law, an employer may not monitor or intercept electronic mail or Internet access or usage of an employee unless the employer has first given a one-time written or electronic notice to the employee. This notification does not apply to processes designed to manage the type or volume of incoming or outgoing electronic mail or telephone voice mail or Internet usage, that are not targeted to monitor or intercept the electronic mail or telephone voice mail or Internet usage of a particular individual, and that are performed solely for the purpose of computer system maintenance and/or protection.

Personally identifying information

Delaware also has a law pertaining to the safe destruction of employment records that contain personal identifying information (PII). Effective January 1, 2015, employers that seek to permanently dispose of records containing employees' PII must take reasonable steps to destroy such records to make it unreadable or indecipherable. Such reasonable steps may include shredding, erasing, or otherwise destroying or modifying the PII in those records. Employees who incur actual damages because of an employer's failure to comply with these requirements may take civil action against the employer.

This law defines PII as a consumer's first name or first initial and last name in combination with any of the following information (when either the name or the other information is not encrypted): signature, full date of birth, Social Security number, passport number, driver's license or state identification card number, insurance policy number, financial services account number, bank account number, credit card number, debit card number, any other financial information or confidential health care information including all information relating to a patient's health care history, diagnosis, condition, treatment or evaluation obtained from a health care provider who has treated the patient which explicitly or by implication identifies a particular patient.

State

Contacts

Delaware Department of Labor

Regulations

Delaware Code 19-7-705, “Notice of monitoring of telephone transmissions, electronic mail and Internet usage”

Delaware code 6-50C, “Safe destruction of records containing personal identifying information”

Federal

Contacts

None.

Regulations

None.