An unscrupulous company has just received a heavy fine for having monitored its employees in telework with intrusive and illegal methods. A practice that is not isolated.
From the pandemic, teleworking is on the rise in companies, to the delight of employees. This avoids wasting time in transport and thus sleeping a little longer in the morning, working in a friendly environment, being able to organize your time more freely and be able to work on the go.
But it is still necessary that companies trust their employees! In recent times, more and more employers are trying to backtrack. But others take more radical and very indiscreet measures to keep an eye on their telework employees: some do not hesitate to use tools such as e-mail monitoring software and Internet navigation or Internet or Internet or Internet navigation Still thanks to video surveillance systems, webcams with eye -monitoring technologies or recording software for keyboard or mouse movements. In short, outright spying!
A company has just been pinned for abusive and illegal practices. In a press release Published on February 4, the National Commission for Data Protection (CNIL) explains that it has sanctioned a company by a fine of 40,000 euros for having disproportionately monitor its employees during their home working time.
Thus, teleworking employees were monitored by Time Doctor, software installed on their computers and responsible for measuring their working time and their productivity. He thus automatically detected if no keyboard strike or mouse movement had been made for a period of 3 to 15 minutes.
If that was the case, the period was recorded and, if it was not justified by the employee or caught up, it could be the subject of a linger on salary. However, these moments could also be due to a meeting or a call in the context of work, so the method was not reliable. The software also measured the time spent on websites identified as “productive” by the company. The time spent elsewhere, deemed non -productive, was automatically deducted.
To make sure, Time Doctor made screenshots of employees in teleworking, at a frequency ranging from every 3 to every 15 minutes. Screenshots that could record “Personal emails, instant messaging conversations or confidential passwords”underlines the CNIL.
The face -to -face employees were not spared either! They were permanently filmed by two cameras, officially installed to prevent flights. But the videos could be consulted in real time, and therefore be used to monitor the behavior of employees.
In France, by its management power, the employer has the right to control and monitor the activity of employees during their working time, provided that they respect their fundamental rights and their individual freedoms. He therefore has the obligation to inform them if he sets up devices of this type and to endeavor to respect their private life as much as possible. Which was clearly not the case here. The company, whose name has not been disclosed, was thus sanctioned by the CNIL under several breaches of the GDPR, the European regulation concerning the protection of personal data, in particular the information obligation of the persons concerned.