Employment lawyer Mackenzie Irwin on CBC talking new employee monitoring policies

Digital Coverage

As more companies shift to a remote work arrangement, questions regarding employee productivity and monitoring an employee’s activity have arisen. In Ontario, starting October 11th, 2022, employers with more than 25 employees in the workplace will have to have an employee monitoring policy in place.

“As the COVID-19 pandemic led to lockdowns and forced employees to work from home in droves, many employers implemented electronic monitoring systems without alerting their staff,” says Mackenzie Irwin, an employment lawyer at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP to CBC News.

Irwin goes on to explain that the new rules should be a step in the right direction for employees. “Once we know what they are actually doing, then we’ll have a better sense of whether those monitoring systems are breaching any other legislation.”

Irwin however cautions that there is still more needed from current legislation as “currently it doesn’t actually give employees any new rights to privacy or discourage employers from overly intrusive monitoring.”

Irwin urges employees to stand up for themselves if they feel uncomfortable at how they are being tracked. “They’re going to be pushing back on that.”

Live News Coverage

Radio Coverage

Mackenzie Irwin spoke to CBC Radio on various stations regarding electronic monitoring policies across the country. More information was provided on:

• The Morning Edition in Kitchener-Waterloo
• Metro Morning in Toronto
• Superior Morning in Thunder Bay
• Windsor Morning in Windsor
• Labrador Morning in Goose Bay
• Edmonton AM in Alberta
• Daybreak North in Prince George and Prince Rupert
• The Eyeopener in Calgary
• Daybreak South in Kelowna
• The Early Edition in Vancouver