A proposal by National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo to prevent union busting via employers who monitor employees electronically would apply to all companies, not just unionized ones. Already, a handful of states have some notice requirements for electronic monitoring.
"I plan to urge to the board, to the greatest extent possible, to apply the [National Labor Relations] Act to protect employees from intrusive or abusive electronic monitoring and automated management practices" that tend to interfere with rights under the law, she said.
Abruzzo will encourage the board to hold that an employer has presumptively violated the act when an employer's surveillance and management practices prevent an employee from engaging in activity protected by the act.
Unless the employer shows special circumstances requiring the covert use of technologies, Abruzzo will urge the board to require the employer to disclose to employees the technologies it uses to monitor and manage them, its reasons for doing so and how it is using the information it obtains.
Abruzzo is making employer use of electronic monitoring an enforcement priority, noted Jenn Betts, an attorney with Ogletree Deakins in Pittsburgh. The general counsel will look for a test case to create a new standard relating to the use of such technology.
Monitoring Is on the Rise
"It is well-documented that employers are increasingly using new technologies to closely monitor and manage employees," Abruzzo wrote...
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