Canadian employees have few legal protections against workplace monitoring, experts said, after TD Bank told some staff it would use software to track their work activity, raising concerns about consent and privacy.
There are limits, however, to the reasons employers monitor their workers and how they use the data they collect.
Canada’s privacy laws are weaker than those in the European Union, where privacy is a fundamental right, and companies must justify the use of monitoring tools under privacy and labor laws, according to six Canadian legal experts.
Globally, companies are increasingly facing employee pushback over using software to monitor work, as new technology becomes available and employers seek to keep tabs on remote workers. TD, Canada’s second-largest company by market cap, will use WorkiQ software to track the time employees spend on browsers and internal chat and meeting applications, according to a recording of a team call last week and a document TD shared with employees that Reuters reviewed.
In response to the story, several TD employees posted anonymously on social media expressing concerns about potential layoffs, micromanaging, and being replaced by AI. Others worried surveillance would increase pressure to perform.
Lawyers said some monitoring is to be expected, but the intent needs to be defined. If a company says it is only monitoring for productivity, data collected cannot be used for performance reviews or shared with other...
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