Can Employers Use Hidden Cameras?
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If you think or know your employer is using hidden cameras to watch you and your coworkers, your first question is probably, “Can they do that? Is it legal for them to watch me secretly?” The short answer is yes, it is legal for employers to use hidden cameras in the workplace.
There are restrictions, and employers can’t put hidden cameras in restrooms or dressing rooms, where employees have a right to an expectation of privacy. There may also be local ordinances restricting the use of hidden cameras.
In general, though, your employer can place hidden cameras in any public area of the workplace, and they can use the material recorded by those hidden cameras in employment-related decisions, including terminating employees for theft or attendance violations (like leaving work early on a regular basis).
What does this mean for you, as an employee? In a general, legalistic sense, it means you should be aware that your employer can place hidden cameras wherever the managers feel they’re necessary, except private areas of the workplace. They can tell you there are cameras and the general locations, or not tell you. Because it’s their property and you’re on their time, they have a lot of legal latitude regarding hidden cameras.
If you discover, either through the grapevine or through your employer’s disclosure, that your employer has hidden cameras, what should you do?
You may feel angry if you find out your employer is using hidden cameras and has not told you and your coworkers. You may have a right to feel angry, depending on the situation, but unfortunately, feeling angry doesn’t get you much. No matter how you may feel about hidden cameras in the workplace, you need to find more productive ways to approach it.
What is your employer’s reasoning behind the hidden cameras? If your employer has experienced a lot of employee theft, or if employees regularly leave the premises early, your employer may feel hidden cameras are the only way to document this behavior and end the losses.
Some employers install hidden cameras as a security measure, not so much against employees, as to protect both employees and customers. This is particularly true in very small stores and offices with walk-in traffic, where robbery is a real risk. Most employers will tell their employees about hidden cameras in a situation like this, but your employer may feel it’s best to keep quiet.
If your employer seems to be aiming hidden cameras at problem employees, it may be easy to resent the intrusion into your own life, because you are not stealing company property or leaving work early. You may agree that other employees should stop doing that. Having a video camera trained on you may be a little harder to take.
If you generally feel your employer is fair and reasonable, and you would rather keep the job than quit over hidden cameras, acceptance is the best policy. You don’t have to like having hidden cameras in the workplace, but if you’re willing to accept, and tolerate, the cameras, you will be able to keep your job and keep the peace with your employer. You know you’re not the target of the hidden cameras. You also know your boss won’t be scrutinizing your every move, but looking for problem behavior from problem employees.
When hidden cameras are used to find, and stop, abusive or criminal behavior, you and your coworkers will benefit as much as your boss. Think how hard you have to work to make up for people who leave early, and how much more your boss could afford to pay in salary and benefits if shrinkage, or theft, stopped. These are the benefits of hidden cameras in the workplace, and they’re well worth the inconvenience.
Tags: employer | cameras | hidden
