More On Workplace Surveillance

Our blog post on Nanny Cams in the workplace turned out to be one of our most popular posts (makes us wonder what people are putting in the search bar?).  So, we thought we would follow up with some more information for employers about surveillance in the workplace.

Employers with unionized workforces will need to be sure that any surveillance program or policy complies with the National Labor Relations Act.  It has long been the policy of the National Labor Relations Board that employers with a unionized workforce must bargain with the union before installing hidden cameras.   In Colgate-Palmolive Company, 323 NLRB 515 (1997), the Board held that the installation and use of covert cameras was a mandatory subject of bargaining.  That decision left open, however, the question of whether an employer could install non-hidden, or conspicuous, methods of surveillance without going through the union.