Employers have monitored employees in the workplace daily for years, tracking the number of hours employees work and their use of the company's electronic systems, including the Internet. Most employees expect and accept the monitoring of their workplace activities. With advances in GPS satellite technologies, employers can now easily and inexpensively monitor employee activities away from the workplace. While employees generally do not object to monitoring work-related activities outside the workplace, non-work related activities are another matter.
In the article, Tracy provides employers with the following tips on how to lawfully monitor employees' activities while using GPS:
- Identify the legitimate business interests they are seeking to protect.
- Prepare a policy that is narrowly tailored to protect theses interest without intruding on the privacy of employees during non-working hours and personal activities.
- Obtain a written acknowledgement from employees providing that they consent to the tracking or monitoring and that they understand the policy.
Tracy also urges employers to take action to ensure that the policy is consistently enforced to avoid a negative impact on employee morale and claims of unlawful conduct.
Originally published in the November issue of Construction Business Owner magazine.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.