Although I understand that employers have every right to monitor their employee's usage of company-owned computers, I'm a little fuzzy in my understanding about the accepted methodology for doing so. Can my employer secretly install monitoring software on my workstation PC, (actually, it isn't my employer per`se, its one drunk-with-power HR person who doesn't even work in the same office as I do) but not on everyone else's in my office? I came into work this morning to discover that my PC login password had been changed, so I wasn't able to log on. When I called my company's tech support person, he claimed that he had to reset my passwords in order to do maintenance work on my PC. That explanation is HIGHLY suspect, considering that no-one else in my office had the same thing happen when they came in this morning.

Is it legal for this rogue HR person to single me out for clandestine monitoring just because she was given a little bit of power & suddenly decided that she has some sort of problem with me that is entirely NOT related to my job performance (which has received nothing but accolaides from day 1)? It seems like if an employer is going to monitor the usage of company computers, they should have to do so uniformly & not on an employee-by-employee basis, like this. As it currently stands, I feel like I'm being harassed by the HR person - even though my direct supervisor/hiring manager is 100% happy with my job performance & sees no reason for the HR person to be treating me this way. Help!!

This is not illegal unless you are being singled out for an illegal reason, like your sex or race.