CCTV in disciplinary proceedings


A number of reps reported that even where ostensibly installed for other reasons, camera recordings have been used by employers to monitor performance and as evidence in disciplinary procedures. 


One Unite workplace rep in the LRD survey referred to managers deliberately trawling CCTV footage for evidence to use against employees for disciplinaries, but said that this was something the union had always managed to fight off.


The use of CCTV to monitor the presence of employees in specific requested locations in the workplace and the number of breaks taken was mentioned a few times in survey responses from reps. One case involved CCTV which was supposedly aimed at machinery which was actually moved in order to monitor employees taking breaks, one of whom was subsequently dismissed. 


A GMB official reported ongoing issues at a household waste recycling centre where full access to a CCTV system installed by the prime contractor Veolia has been made available to another sub-contractor. Managers at the sub-contractor have been using images as evidence for a range of misdemeanours. The official referred to a recent case of a worker being pulled up by management after CCTV images showed him taking pictures of the work area. Managers said they suspected him of taking images that would be passed on to the union, although the worker was actually a member of the workplace health and safety committee and was taking pictures to be shown to the committee. 


According to a Unite official, the union insists in workplace polices that evidence from CCTV should only be used as supporting evidence, but not as the sole evidence in proceedings, unless it relates to health and safety or theft. 


But the range of technology available allows employers to build up a more comprehensive picture. For example, in one case, CCTV images were used in conjunction with other data, including from a card-entry system to access the car park and work building, and computer log-ins and internet browsing, in order to build up a picture of an employee’s movements. 


A Unite rep for emergency services at a major regional airport reported that workers were being monitored through a range of technologies, including CCTV, “from the moment we pass the main entrance gates in our cars”. There are speed cameras along the airside roadways, tracking of access passes at various security points, recording of all phone calls and radio communications, and tracking of all computer activity. Although all these systems are in place for reasons of airport security, logging information and tracking the “event sequences of an incident”, the company handbook states that information from them can be used as evidence in disciplinary investigations should the need arise, with adequate reason. 


According to the airport rep, information from the various monitoring systems has been used for disciplinary processes for misdemeanours including: “Lateness, carelessness, inappropriate behaviour or language, not being where they should be or poor performance.” Despite this there are no official agreements on the use of the monitoring systems.