GPS tracking Company Cars

eddiem10

Can my company fit a GPS tracking system to my company car without a) my knowledge and/or b) my permission? Any advice gratefully welcome.

Eoin

Moved to work/jobs

leeroybrown

I presume that your company car is their property. If so yes.

There was a thread about this issue a while back where someone found that their employer had been monitoring their company van use and was docking their expenses as they had been driving home but still claiming the overnight rate. You'll probably be able to dig it up with a search.

Nody

Same way they can read your e-mail or check your work "home" folder with out your knowledge.

niceirishfella

Yes, the car is their property.

eddiem10

I have no problem about the car being there property.... My question is..... Can they.... without my permission or knowledge, monitor my usage, during and outside of business hours? I would have thought that the Data Protection Act might have something to say about this. Also (paranoia here!) Is there any way of knowing that such a device is fitted?

Eoin

I think the Data Protection Act is geared more towards organisations not passing on details, I'm not sure how much it covers what they do with the information internally.

leeroybrown

Having had a chance to look at this thread again I'll add that they don't need your permission but from a data protection point of view they may be required to inform you. I'd also suggest that they mightn't have the right to track the company car while you're using it for authorised private use.

I'd suggest that GPS tracking is probably viewed in a similar fashion to internal (non-public) CCTV from a data protection point of view.

niceirishfella

eoin wrote: »

I think the Data Protection Act is geared more towards organisations not passing on details

correct.

Eoin

Actually, leeroybrown's reply is bang on the money. From here.

4.10 Can my employer use GPS / Vehicle Tracking Systems?

Yes, subject to conditions to protect your right to privacy. A company may have very good business reasons to track the location of its vehicles. There is no problem with this under data protection legislation, provided that employees are fully aware of the tracking and its implications. If an employer permits some private use of a company vehicle, it should be possible to turn the tracking system off during such use.

niceirishfella wrote:

correct.

It looks like the clause of "using information fairly" gives them a wider remit than I thought.

leeroybrown

After some digging on the Data Protection Commissioner's website it appears that they do have a FAQ entry on the topic. Not a bad guess for a tired Friday evening! I can't see much more information than that.

EDIT: ^ "Snap" ^

Eoin

Beat you to it!

If an employer permits some private use of a company vehicle, it should be possible to turn the tracking system off during such use.

Though I could understand if a company wanted to make sure it wasn't being driven outside of the State at any time, so might insist it's left on.

leeroybrown

eoin wrote: »

Though I could understand if a company wanted to make sure it wasn't being driven outside of the State at any time, so might insist it's left on.

Yeah. I'd say that in practice this one would become a classic grey area.

The company can probably claim that for theft/insurance reasons they want it left on but that their policy is not to use the data outside work hours unless specifically required. They could probably also claim concerns about employees using company vehicles for non-private external commercial reasons.