Can a general manager open US Mail that is addressed to an employee?
Full Question:
Answer:
The right of privacy is the right to be free from the unwarranted appropriation or exploitation of one's personality, the publicizing of one's private affairs with which the public has no legitimate concern, or the wrongful intrusion into one's private activities, in such manner as to outrage or cause mental suffering, shame, or humiliation to a person of ordinary sensibilities.
One who intentionally intrudes, physically or otherwise, upon the private affairs or concerns of another, is subject to liability to the other for invasion of his or her privacy, if the intrusion would be highly offensive to a reasonable person.
There are three elements which must be established for an invasion-of-privacy tort based on the concept of such an intrusion:
1. An intentional intrusion by the defendant;
2. Into a matter which the plaintiff has a right to keep private
3. By the use of a method which is objectionable to the reasonable person.
Also, to recover on an invasion of the right to privacy claim, the invasion must be one which would be offensive and objectionable to a reasonable man of ordinary sensibilities.
At least one court has held that private individuals have a reasonable expectation that their personal mail will not be opened and read by unauthorized persons, and that an employer is not authorized to open mail addressed to a person at his workplace that appears to be personal.