A telephone sales rep in the Netherlands has won an unfair dismissal court case against his former employer, US software company Chetu, after he was fired for refusing to spend his work day surveilled by his computer camera.
In August of 2022, the employee was required to log on during an entire workday while sharing his screen and being monitored by camera and attending an online training program.
"I don't feel comfortable being monitored for nine hours a day by a camera," the un-named defendant is recorded as saying in a court filing. "This is an invasion of my privacy and makes me feel really uncomfortable. That is the reason why my camera is not on. You can already monitor all activities on my laptop and I am sharing my screen," the employee added.
The Diessen, Netherlands resident then received two more emails stating the company's demands for surveillance, as well as an argument stating that camera surveillance is no different than physical presence in an office.
Chetu eventually received the following notification:
Hi [name of applicant], Your employment is hereby terminated. Reason: Refusal to work; Insubordination.
The Court of Zeeland West-Brabant determined [PDF] that not only was there no evidence of refusal to work, but instructing an employee to leave their camera on all day was a privacy violation. The court cited a November 28 ruling in the European Court of Human Rights that stated video surveillance of an employee in the workplace, covert or not, was a...
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