Key Points

• Employers monitor employees with various technologies, including instant messaging apps (that identify “active” or “away” status), phone, computer screen and video surveillance, GPS monitoring and even “smart” seat cushions that track health metrics.
• Though monitoring tools can be seen as a way to improve worker efficiency, accountability, productivity and safety, they can lead to legal claims and lower morale.
• Potential legal issues include invasion of privacy, unfair labor practice charges, discrimination, unpaid wages and overtime and workplace injuries.
• Employers monitoring employees should ensure compliance with evolving federal and state laws and review their employee handbooks and applicable written policies.

That employers monitor their employees to some degree is a given. What may come as a surprise is the extent and means of such tracking, often involving advanced technologies, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to research by the management consulting firm Gartner, within the first month of the COVID-19 pandemic, 16% of companies put new tracking software on the laptops of their remote employees, and by July 2020, 26% of companies were utilizing surveillance software. As reported by The Wall Street Journal, a survey conducted in July 2022 by the research group International Data Corp. found that approximately 67.6% of North American employers with at least 500 employees utilize some form of employee monitoring software.

Common types...

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