A telephone company employee was on disability leave. Company policy prohibited taking vacation while collecting disability. The employee disregarded the policy and left for his planned fishing trip. Managers became suspicious and went to his house to wait for him, finding no one home.
Phone records were checked to verify that the employee had not called in from home as he had claimed or made any other calls. The employer also contacted the kennel where the employee had boarded his dog, the Canadian province where he obtained a fishing license, and the post office that he had instructed to hold his mail. The employee was fired. He was reinstated without back pay by an arbitrator, but he sued for invasion of privacy. What should the court decide? Why? (Schmidt v. Ameritech, 768 N.E.2d 303 (Ill. App. 2002), review denied, 813 N.E. 2d 229 (Ill. 2004))