24/7 camera monitoring of remote employees likely has no valid legal basis under GDPR. Constant surveillance is excessive and violates privacy rights.
Table of Contents
Question
Gentle Hedgehog Inc. is a privately owned website design agency incorporated in Italy. The company has numerous remote workers in different EU countries. Recently, the management of Gentle Hedgehog noticed a decrease in productivity of their sales team, especially among remote workers. As a result, the company plans to implement a robust but privacy-friendly remote surveillance system to prevent absenteeism, reward top performers, and ensure the best quality of customer service when sales people are interacting with customers.
Gentle Hedgehog eventually hires Sauron Eye Inc., a Chinese vendor of employee surveillance software whose European headquarters is in Germany. Sauron Eye s software provides powerful remote-monitoring capabilities, including 24/7 access to computer cameras and microphones, screen captures, emails, website history, and keystrokes. Any device can be remotely monitored from a central server that is securely installed at Gentle Hedgehog headquarters. The monitoring is invisible by default; however, a so-called Transparent Mode, which regularly and conspicuously notifies all users about the monitoring and its precise scope, also exists. Additionally, the monitored employees are required to use a built-in verification technology involving facial recognition each time they log in.
All monitoring data, including the facial recognition data, is securely stored in Microsoft Azure cloud servers operated by Sauron Eye, which are physically located in France.
What is the main problem with the 24/7 camera monitoring?
A. It must not be operated during non-business hours and employee holidays.
B. It may accidentally film third parties whose consent is required for monitoring.
C. It has no valid legal basis to be implemented in the context of Gentle Hedgehog’s business.
D. It must first be approved by the trade union and then granted a license from the national DPA.
Answer
The main problem with the 24/7 camera monitoring proposed by Gentle Hedgehog is:
C. It has no valid legal basis to be implemented in the context of Gentle Hedgehog’s business.
Explanation
Under the GDPR, employee monitoring must have a valid legal basis such as the legitimate interests of the employer. However, any monitoring must be necessary, proportionate, and balanced against the privacy rights of employees.
24/7 camera surveillance, especially outside of work hours, is extremely invasive and likely excessive for Gentle Hedgehog’s stated purposes of preventing absenteeism and ensuring customer service quality. There are less intrusive ways to achieve these goals that better respect employees’ privacy, such as productivity tracking software limited to work hours.
Constant monitoring of employees, especially in their own homes, violates their reasonable expectations of privacy. It would be very difficult for Gentle Hedgehog to establish a legitimate interest that overrides these fundamental privacy rights for such excessive surveillance.
Therefore, always-on 24/7 camera monitoring almost certainly lacks a valid legal basis under the GDPR in this situation. Gentle Hedgehog would need to implement a much more limited and targeted monitoring program to potentially comply with the law.
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