Technology has made work faster and easier but also blurs the line between work and personal life, especially for remote workers. This creates privacy risks, as employers may monitor employees to ensure productivity and security. However, this monitoring can easily become illegal surveillance without employees even realizing it.
Overt ways employers might be monitoring employees
In some cases, employer monitoring efforts are out in the open. For instance, employers may inform you of measures including:
- Email monitoring: Employers can check employees’ emails and other work accounts on work devices. Privacy issues arise if they look at emails on personal accounts or devices without permission.
- Internet usage tracking: Employers can see which websites employees visit and their online activities while using work devices. Tracking on personal devices or during off-hours can invade privacy.
- Video surveillance: Cameras in the workplace can be used for safety or to enforce rules, but they should not be in private areas like restrooms.
- Phone call monitoring: Employers might say they record or listen to work-related phone calls, but problems arise if they do this without permission or in an unreasonable way.
These efforts to monitor employees can be expected in today’s workplaces, but they can cross the line into legal violations.
Not-so-obvious ways employers might be monitoring employees
Unfortunately, there are ways employers could be monitoring employees without their knowledge. Some of these measures include:
- GPS tracking: Employees may not know that an employer tracks their movements through work apps or work-provided devices. This type of monitoring could violate state and federal monitoring laws.
- Social media monitoring: Employees should assume their employer can see their social media, but invasive monitoring can throw off the balance between public information and privacy rights.
- Biometric data collection: Misusing fingerprints, facial recognition or other biometric data or collecting it without permission can spur disputes regarding consent and data protection.
- Software usage monitoring: Tracking the use of specific software applications can cause problems regarding transparency and necessity.
Employers may monitor workers to make sure they are working well and to keep things secure. However, understanding the difference between legal monitoring and illegal spying is essential. Both obvious and hidden ways of watching can invade employees’ privacy and trigger serious legal disputes.
By understanding these practices, employees can protect their privacy better, and employers can make sure they follow the law.