The law

Many people are not aware of their rights when it comes to monitoring in the workplace.


The Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) and the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) apply strict rules as to what employers can and cannot do and the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has further boosted workers’ protection.


Activities involving storing, using and processing personal information about individual workers will normally be covered by theDPA (see Chapter 9). Employers also store a range of information on employees in personnel files, some coming from external sources, such as previous employers, health screening agencies, credit reference agencies and the Criminal Records Bureau.


The main laws and international standards that govern workplace monitoring are discussed in more detail in Chapters 7 – 9. There is also a separate LRD booklet – The General Data Protection Regulation – a guide for union reps – covering the collection and storage of employee data.


As this booklet reveals, many workers still feel deeply uncomfortable about their employer’s use of surveillance but do not feel they can argue against it.