Is it legal for employers to spy on employees without telling them?

[MalibuChloe]

We have recently had cameras installed at my place of business. The managers watch the recordings as if it is television. Then they will approach an employee and say "you were on your cell phone for 11 minutes yesterday." They always add they weren't spying - they were looking at something else and "happened to notice."

Now they have started a rumor that there are other cameras that no one knows about - just to keep the employees in line.

It's creating such low morale. I can't believe it's legal to install cameras without telling the employees.

[shoelace414]

1. my guess

you don't have a reasonable expectation of privacy, so it would be legal.

not the best way to run a business

[Taverner]

2. Yes it is legal

They can search your email, phone conversations etc...for any reason.

Employees have very few rights...

BTW...where is it you work, if I may ask?

[LSparkle]

3. Don't fall for that one ...

[MalibuChloe]

8. it's sort of like a govt-run YMCA

so they used the fact that kids could get kidnapped as a reason to install the cameras. which is fine with me, but they never use it for anything like that. it's always to nab employees for chatting too much or for being a few minutes late. they had a mic installed, too, but one of the employees ripped it off and threw it in the trash. ha.

[swimmernsecretsea]

4. This has been an important privacy issue for many years.

Employers using monitoring devices such as email recording, video, all manner of spy equipment is perfectly legal, protected behavior. It's justified as saying what takes place on company property is protected assets of the employer and therefore pre-emptive measures can be taken.

[LincolnMcGrath]

5. It is not about privacy. It is about you trying to rip off the CEO!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4303519&mesg_id=4303519

[Bunny]

6. It is definitely legal for employers to "spy" on employees.

I do not know, however, if employers are required to inform you that you will be watched. Someone else may know that.

[swimmernsecretsea]

11. My understanding is laws vary from state to state

...but essentially, use of company property (which includes phones, internet, email, etc.) in the location of the company (which can include anywhere up to the parking lot and surrounding areas, even, in some cases, outside of work and in your own home if you work at home) is agreed as monitorable behavior. I've heard of circumstances of employees discussing the company at a bar, word getting back to the company, and the employee being disciplined.

As to informed consent, some legal wording says that implied consent is given upon accepting the job responsibility; others say that in an agreement that one signs upon joining the workforce, that would include all manner of other guidelines.

[Blue-Jay]

7. Legal.

My last job installed spyware on the computers to track all internet usage.

[sui generis]

9. at work you are a plumber / electrician / maid

if you would consider installing a nanny cam in your own home, an employer has the same rights to do so at their place of business.

Anyone who keeps tab of your cell phone minutes isn't going to be in business much longer - and the best comeback is to ask if they also happened to notice whether or not you were being more efficient for 16 minutes every other hour and that it generally takes you 30 seconds less to pee than the median pisser thus saving the company an average of 330 minutes a year in a 1980 hour work year, or whether they only happened to notice things in your disfavor.

I completely emphatically disagree that an employer should be allowed to test your urine, credit, IQ, or blood for nicotine though as a condition of employment.

[Nikia]

10. We have cameras too

They were installed to prevent/investigate possible bioterrorism (food processing plant). Many employees worried that the cameras would be used against them. As far as I know, no employee has been reprimanded or disciplined for things that they were caught doing on camera.
I don't know about your company. I'd look for the cameras if I were you. I know where all the cameras are in my workplace.