As technology advances and becomes less expensive, it is
increasingly common for employers to use surveillance technology in
the workplace but they must ensure they respect the privacy of
their staff.
Today surveillance can take a variety of forms, including:
- GPS tracking in work vehicles or mobile phones;
- Monitoring of work emails or internet use;
- Video cameras in the workplace; and
- Measuring time not spent on the phone (i.e. at a call
centre).
In the recent case of Stuart v Downer New Zealand Ltd,
a Nelson street cleaner was dismissed for serious misconduct for
falsifying his timesheets. The employer had installed a GPS on its
employees' work trucks and discovered that there was a
significant mismatch between the time of the last stop (Mr
Stuart's home) shown in the GPS records and the finish time
recorded by Mr Stuart on his timesheets. Over six months, the
mismatches indicated that Mr Stuart had claimed 17 hours in excess
of his lunch allowance in
