Saturday, April 07, 2018

Monitoring of smartphones and by CCTV in the workplace


I recently participated in an interdisciplinary seminar at UCC on 'Electronic Monitoring in Ireland: Shaping what we do and who we are'.

The title of my talk was 'Monitoring of smartphones and by CCTV in the workplace'. 

I discussed the legal implications of (a) use of smartphones and (b) monitoring by CCTV in the workplace.

Smartphones allow receipt of emails on a 24/7 basis, even when the employee is in theory off duty.  Employees’ locations may also be monitored.  The implications for employees’ mental health and compliance with the Working Time Directive were considered.  CCTV monitoring also raises significant issues, for example regarding the purposes of monitoring and the relationship between data protection law and employment law.

My presentation:
http://bit.ly/monitoring-law

A podcast interview:
"Listen to Dr Darius Whelan (@dariuswirl) speak with Jane Mulcahy (@janehmul) about the monitoring of smartphones in the workplace and the use of CCTV by employers"
https://itunes.apple.com/ie/podcast/dr-darius-whelan-shares-his-thoughts-on-electronic/id1288572014?i=1000408249932

[UCC School of Law Podcast]     If you don't have iTunes, the file is here.

The organisers of the seminar were Dr. Eleanor Bantry-White, Applied Social Studies; Dr. Katharina Swirak, Criminology; Dr. Debora Jeske, Applied Psychology; Dr. Fiona Donson, Law.

Speakers included
Professor Mike Nellis, Emeritus Professor of Criminal and Community Justice in the Law School, University of Strathclyde
Dr. Ciaran McCullagh, Associate Professor, University of Limerick
Gerry McNally, President of the Confederation of European Probation (CEP) and Assistant Director, Irish Probation Service
Professor Frederic Adam, Business Information Systems, UCC
Dr. Eleanor Bantry White, UCC School of Applied Social Studies
Dr. Orla O’Donovan, UCC School of Applied Social Studies

Some tweets may be found at #EMIreland

Case-law referred to in my presentation includes:

UPC Ireland v UNITE and SIPTU (2015)  LCR20938
https://www.workplacerelations.ie/en/Cases/2015/March/LCR20938.html

O'Connor v Galen Ltd (UD 1514/2009)

Köpke v. Germany (2010)
http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-101536 

López Ribalda v Spain (2018)
http://www.bailii.org/eu/cases/ECHR/2018/14.html

Ali v First Quench (2001)
www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2001/446.html

McGowan v Scottish Water (2004)
www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKEAT/2004/0007_04_2309.html

Gresham Hotel (Case Study 6 of 2007)
https://www.dataprotection.ie/docs/Case-Studies-2008/c/732.htm#6

Westwood Swimming (2011)
https://www.dataprotection.ie/docs/Case-Studies-2011/1212.htm#9

Employee v Employer (Supermarket Restaurant) UD893/2010 (2012)
https://www.workplacerelations.ie/en/Cases/2012/September/UD893_2010_MN848_2010.html