Employment lawyer Mackenzie Irwin on 640 Toronto about tracking employees

Interview Summary

In Ontario Bill 88 aims to ensure that employers with more than 25 employees at the workplace will implement an employee monitoring policy. This legislation offers more transparency to the growing number of employees who have been working remotely over the past few years. This legislation also calls into question the importance of protecting employee privacy rights.

Mackenzie Irwin, a Toronto employment lawyer and Associate at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP joins Kelly Cutrara on 640 Toronto to discuss the new legislation and its implication for employee rights.

Interview Notes

• Type of monitoring taking place by employers: While there is anecdotal evidence of employers monitoring employee behaviour even in regard to bathroom breaks, there has been a rise in monitoring as a result of many employees working from home. Employers have been implementing software that can track mouse movement, key strikes, etc, for many employees.
• Rights to privacy for employees: This legislation is a step in the right direction however it does not offer new privacy rights for employees that did not exist previously. This legislation forces employers to tell employees how, when and why they are being monitored.
• Assume monitoring is being conducted while using work equipment: Employers that do have a legitimate business purpose for monitoring and the intrusions are minimal, they are able to track employees’ behaviour. Employers do not have the right to track everything, such as recording employee phone conversations.
• Expectations of privacy while at work: Thus far, there has been no indication or transparency regarding employee tracking behaviour and the level of privacy afforded to employees in the workplace.