Many Ontario companies will soon need to disclose to staff whether they’re electronically monitoring their activities.
In April, Ontario became the first province to pass a new transparency law, as part of the Working for Workers Act, requiring companies with 25 or more workers to create a written policy clearly outlining whether employee use of computers, cellphones, GPS systems and other electronic devices are being tracked, and if so, to what extent.
According to the Ministry of Labour, the policy needs to contain information on whether the employer electronically monitors its workers, and if so, “a description of how and in what circumstances the employer does this.” The ministry also says employers need to disclose the “purpose” of collecting such information. These policies will apply to employees regardless of whether they work remotely, in an office, or in the field.
As of Tuesday, workplaces are required to have those policies established and in place. Within 30 days, that information needs to be disclosed to staff.
Speaking with CTV News Toronto, Labour Minister Monte McNaughton said that while employers are not required to report their policies to the government, inspectors going into workplaces will be ensuring the policies are posted publicly.
“Today's the first day that employers have to have a policy in place to tell workers if and how and why they're being monitored electronically,” McNaughton said. “If those policies aren’t in place,...
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