Huron County council has approved the Human Resources Electronic Monitoring Policy that was presented by its Director of Human Resources at their last council meeting.
Lara Vanstone explains the Province has taken the lead in enhancing employer transparency in the work place, first by ensuring that employees are able to disconnect from work, but also by creating an Electronic Monitoring Policy. Vanstone says, for employers with more than 25 employees, that policy had to be in place by October 11th of this year.
“It requires employers to be transparent about how they monitor their employee's use of devices, such as computers and cell phones and GPS. So it doesn't increase employee's privacy right, rather it creates an employer's obligation of transparency," Vanstone says.
So, Vanstone explains, employers are now required to outline what electronic monitoring will occur and how the information will be used.
“Monitoring is mainly through networks and systems, so things like emails, online zoom chats, internet usage, any VPN connection, which is the virtual private network connection," adds Vanstone
The employer is obligated to disclose to employees how, when and why that's being tracked, if, in fact, it is being tracked and monitored. Vanstone says a copy of the policy has to be rolled out and in the hands of each employee by November 10th of this year.
