secret video cameras

bubonicus

Hi,

Just wondering if anybody can help with this.... maybe needs to be in the legal forum?

Anyway, My missus is a supervisor for a catering company. The managment have told her they are installing hidden video cameras to monitor the staff. But she is not allowed to tell the staff. Where does she stand. I thought it was a requirement for employers to inform staff if they are on camera?

Any help would be great.

Cheers,
Bub.

odarallo

Heya Bub,

As far as I know it is not illegal to place hiddne cameras in a work place to monitor the employees.

The only illegal issue with placing hidden cameras would be if they were placed in the dressing room. If your "missus" has to sign a contract stating she cannot inform other employess regarding this issue, she will be in breach of contract thus loosing her job.

If she has not signed such a contract she is able to inform her collegues about the cameras without breach of contract.

If you got any questions please drop me a PM and ill reply to it as soon as i see it :0

bubonicus

odarallo wrote:

Heya Bub,

As far as I know it is not illegal to place hiddne cameras in a work place to monitor the employees.

The only illegal issue with placing hidden cameras would be if they were placed in the dressing room. If your "missus" has to sign a contract stating she cannot inform other employess regarding this issue, she will be in breach of contract thus loosing her job.

If she has not signed such a contract she is able to inform her collegues about the cameras without breach of contract.

If you got any questions please drop me a PM and ill reply to it as soon as i see it :0

cheers Odarallo,

that's cool. She just needed to know where she stands.

amen

If she has not signed such a contract she is able to inform her collegues about the cameras without breach of contract.

Odarallo is that really true?
so if as part of her job she comes by information that is not specifically alluded to in her contract she can inform her staff ? I don't think so.
I would think the other important thing her is that she has been told by her supervisors not to inform her staff thus informing them could lead to her losing her job.

mel123

i would have thought u would have had to tell employees, and also, can any 'evidence' which comes of these cameras be used seeing as employees didnt know they were there. i could be wrong, but i think if its like a bank and shop etc they have to have a sign up saying CCTV cameras in operation, would have thought it should be the same for workplace. this is really rotten anyway putting these up without peoples knowlegde.

leeroybrown

mel123 wrote:

i could be wrong, but i think if its like a bank and shop etc they have to have a sign up saying CCTV cameras in operation, would have thought it should be the same for workplace.

The signs are for the members of the public who are on the premises. I'm not entirely familiar with the law in this area but it's quite possible that they don't have to inform people of the cameras as it's an employee only area.

shayser

According to the data commissioner, staff must be informed.

"monitoring, including employees’ email or internet usage, surveillance by camera, video cameras or location data must comply with the transparency requirements of data protection law. Staff must be informed of the existence of the surveillance, and also the purposes for which personal data are to be processed. If CCTV cameras are in operation, and public access is allowed, a notice to that effect should be displayed. Any monitoring must be carried out in the least intrusive way possible. Only in exceptional circumstances associated with a criminal investigation, and in consultation with the Gardai, should resort be made to covert surveillance"

http://www.dataprotection.ie/viewdoc.asp?m=&fn=/documents/guidance/3gm3.htm

I remeber when I worked at Tesco and they installed CCTV to monitor staff without informing us. It was gone by lunch time.

In your wife's case, is the company not asking her to be complicit in the breaking of a law?

WhiteWashMan

yeah, as far as i recall, you could not have cameras that looked over an employees area of work.
you cannot use video footage as evidence either in a case of dismissal etc.

video footage is supposed to be for security reasons.

i would certain consult legal advice before making any decisions on this.

leeroybrown

It's good to hear that they can't secretly monitor their employees. If an employer wants to put in security cameras then they should notify everyone and use them as a deterrant.