Employer's Right to Search You ..... AND Your Car ????

[Gizmonster]

Scenario: A friend of mine (female) works for a small local supermarket chain and it has just been taken over by another firm. She went on an induction course and has been told that random security checks will be made on staff, searching the staff and their bags, etc (fair enough). They've also been told that anyone travelling to work by car, may also have their car searched. Their reason for this is probably in case anyone pilfers anything and puts the goodies in their car - surely they don't have the right to do this?
I mean where do you draw the line? What if you live directly opposite the shop, 'cos you might pilfer something and then go and stash it in your house whilst on your break? Do they also have the right to search your house?
What if you park your car 1 block away from the shop, or 2 ... 3 ????
Also, the security guard is male. I was under the impression that only female security guards could search female staff, etc?
Can anyone throw some light on the legalities of all this please?
TIA :)

[Zacs-Master]

Why would someone be more worried about searching their car than their bag, Surely you have more personal things in your bag? If you haven't pinched anything then there should be no problem.

[Gizmonster]

In my opinion it's an invasion of privacy.
By all means search my bag and belongings and if you want, search my car as I have nothing to hide - it's just the fact that the firm are saying they have the right to search my friend's car, which in my opinion is not right ......

[Postdog]

I worked for royal mail and if you are being investigated they asked to search your car or home. I agree that if you have nothing to hide why worry.

[237SJ]

Yes they can. My employers have found quite a few interesting goodies in peoples` cars over the years.

[Duncer]

I would draw the line at any employer searching my home; they could get the police to do it if it came to that.

However, we are randomly searched going into work and can also be searched on the way out. It's not a problem and only takes a few minutes.

[cathfromsaron]

ditto! it's just a legitimate security measure to me!

my answer, don't sign the contract and don't work there then!

spot checks happen to prevent crime ... they won't happen unless there is suspicion of 'shrinkage' at that place!

[Duncer]

I would insist on a female to carry out the search if I was female. In fact I would insist on a female if I thought I could get away with it.

[Youngatheart99]

My opinion is that anything found in the house which is not illegal should be kept confidential.
Using Postdog's example it could be found that there are probate papers in the house showing a postman has inherited £2,000,000.
If he wants to just deposit it in the bank, not use any of it and continue being a postman, he would not be doing anything unlawful.
In that situation if the person doing the searching disclosed this to any other person he should be sacked and paid no pension.

[rockyracoon]

Why would he be sacked and paid no pension. Sorry to hijack your post giz.

[Youngatheart99]

I would say the postman who is having his house searched has the right to have anything found which is not unlawful kept confidential.
If during the search papers are found showing he has a large amount of money which was lawfully obtained the findings should be disclosed to nobody.

[boxtops]

YAH, that's a different scenario - the search is looking for ill-gotten gains, not legal inheritances etc.

The search is perfectly legal, I used to be searched when I worked in hotels.

[Gizmonster]

My friend has nothing to hide and is not bothered about being searched. It's her friend who has had her car searched in the past.
She's just uncomfortable at the thought of being searched by a male security officer, especially going through her handbag with personal possessions etc !!
Can she legally refuse to be searched by a male officer, requesting that the search be carried out by a female, or is it legal for her to be searched by a male ??

[Marciau]

Hi Youngatheart99

Part of my work involved investigating suspected fraud but in several cases we found the suspect had a lot of money from somewhere outside their work and it was obtained legally.
We were not allowed to disclose this to anybody but I could understand how they became suspects eg a low grade employee running an expensive car or owning an expensive house.

Marcia

[grffindoor2011]

Tell the friend to ask for a female security guard under the humans right act and that a man searching her infringes on her civil liberties. I used that one a few years ago, more to be difficult, but it worked.

Aside from that, they are within their rights to search. It's a sad fact of life that anyone young, old, new or old employee could be up to no good. As long as people like that exist, the rest of us will be made to feel like criminals sometimes.

[EDDIE51]

We had the same conditions where I worked, it was in the conditions of contract that random searches both personal and of cars could be carried out.
I am pretty sure the female searcher bit for female workers only applies to 'Body searchs' not just a bag check we only ever had male security guards at the place I worked. But they only ever asked you to turn out your pockets and looked in bags .

[EDDIE51]

Nothing to do with 'Human Rights' but it does have to be in your contract of employment.