Is Your Employee’s Privacy Being Compromised By Video Surveillance Systems?

Privacy in the workplace is a very important issue that can cause some controversy. There are certain privacy laws that are designed to protect employees and when using video surveillance, privacy of employees must be considered. Privacy issues on video surveillance cameras are most likely to occur when the employees do not realize they are being filmed (covert video surveillance) or when cameras are located in places where people do not want to be filmed (for instance, in bathrooms). There are also concerns that video surveillance (particularly covert video surveillance) may unfairly target certain minority groups.

Court Upheld Privacy Violations that Could Take Place in the Office

There are certain privacy rights in the workplace that are upheld by law. There are four main ways that a workplace may be considered to have breached violated an employee’s right to privacy. These four breaches of privacy include:

• Deception. If an employer does not disclose information or lies about the way in which certain information may be used, then this may indicate a breach of privacy. For video surveillance, deception may include deceiving employees into believing an area is not under video surveillance, when, in fact, it is.
• Violation of confidentiality. This includes distributing information, after an employer has told an employee that the information would be held in confidence. It may also include distributing a video tape of an employee (for instance, a job interview) that should have been held in confidence.
• Secret, intrusive monitoring. This is the type of privacy breach that most often occurs with video surveillance. This includes monitoring of an employee when they are not aware that the monitoring is taking place.
• Intrusion on an employee’s private life. This includes monitoring an employee’s after-work activities.

Each state has different privacy regulations and laws and you should contact your state department of labor to find out the privacy rights in the workplace that apply to your office.

The Extent to Which Employers can use Video Surveillance to Monitor Employees

The extent to which employers can use video surveillance to monitor employees may depend on the state they are living in and the type of business they are conducting. In your state’s privacy act, video surveillance laws will be set out. You should read your relevant privacy act to ensure you comply with all relevant regulations and laws.

In most cases, employees should be notified of the video surveillance that is taking place and the video surveillance should not include areas where employees have a right to expect some privacy. In some cases, covert video surveillance is allowed (for instance, when an employee is suspected of criminal activity), but an employer may need to get permission from the relevant authorities before doing this. General video surveillance for security purposes will, in most cases, not be considered to breach any privacy rights in the workplace.

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