Study Finds IBM Top Employer for Workplace Privacy

WASHINGTON, Sept 8 (Reuters) - International Business Machines Corp. is least likely to snoop on its employees, while drug maker Eli Lilly and Co is the most notorious Big Brother boss, Wired magazine said in its October edition.

The technology magazine surveyed watchdog organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union and the Privacy Foundation to determine which large, publicly traded companies were the best and worst for workplace privacy.

IBM took top honors for its efforts to scrub Social Security numbers from health-care records, while Lilly received black marks for its invasive background checks of workers after Sept. 11, 2001, some of which led to dismissals.

Hewlett-Packard Co . and Baxter Healthcare won plaudits for their vigilant protection of internal employee records, while Ford and Sears were praised for voluntarily signing on with stringent data-protection laws in Europe and California.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Hilton Hotels Corp. were criticized for secretly taping employees, while the New York Times Co. drew hisses for requiring doctors to disclose employee medical records. Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. also made the list of Big Brother bosses for its 2001 attempt to fight workers' compensation claims with genetic testing.

(Reporting by Andy Sullivan; editing by Jerry Kearney; Reuters Messaging).