Worker monitoring vs worker surveillance: the need for a legal differentiation

Abstract

The objective of this chapter is to point to the increasing interest in workers’ permanent measurement provided by new surveillance products. It provides factual and legal arguments that support the need to draw a line between the concept of ‘worker monitoring’ and ‘worker surveillance’, arguing that such surveillance creates a situation of structural asymmetry between employers and workers in terms of information and control at work, while also leading to abuses of workers’ rights. Against this background, it highlights the need to set boundaries to employers’ monitoring prerogatives, themselves significantly enhanced by the development of new and powerful surveillance technologies. The analysis is based on literature from sociology, surveillance studies and law.

Keywords: Workplace surveillance, Privacy, Labour Law, Workplace monitoring