An employer’s obligation to disclose electronic surveillance of workers in a proposal by the National Labor Relations Board’s general counsel expands on a trend in recent regulation of technology-enabled workplace practices.
NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo has called for a new legal standard to invalidate employee monitoring that tends to interfere with workers joining together for mutual aid and protection, a right protected by Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act. If an employer’s legitimate business reasons outweigh those rights, the company would have to notify workers about its practices under Abruzzo’s proposal.
The proposed disclosure mandate follows a notification called for in Equal Employment Opportunity Commision guidelines and a recent New York City law on the use of artificial intelligence in hiring, said Jennifer Betts, an attorney with the management-side firm Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC.
“But what’s interesting is that Abruzzo isn’t only urging for a standard disclosure, she would also require an employer’s reasons and how it’s being used,” Betts said. “She’s leveling it up by adding additional layers.”
Detailed information about an employer’s surveillance program is necessary so workers can keep their organizing activities confidential, Abruzzo said in an Oct. 31 memo outlining her plan.
Abruzzo’s proposal appears to...
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