CCTV in disciplinary

[Arnie16]

Hello.Im after advice on CCTV used in the work place.There are signs saying it's in use for safety and security.Whilst the company was monitoring an external fire door in a workshop they noticed that some employees were not working for a couple of hours or even sleeping.My question is can this CCTV footage be used in a disciplinary against the employees.Although the employees were aware of the camera they thought they were beyond its view.But unaware to them the camera had been moved to cover the door.The camera is static and has to be moved manually. There may also be a secret camera that was added and used but not too sure.Thankyou in advance.

[DigiSheppard]

Tricky area this one. A lot of companies use CCTV in disciplinaries but it has to be documented properly in order for them to avoid getting in hot water.

As there are signs clearly up stating CCTV is in operation 'for safety and security' then it will probably be used. However, if secret filming was going on without the staff members realising they were being recorded, there is a case for GDPR and privacy violations.

I'd recommend giving this article a quick skim:
https://bdaily.co.uk/articles/2013/0...inary-hearings

[ULA]

The link is useful however the article pre-dates the introduction of GDPR and the below information also needs to be taken into account.

Under GDPR, employers are entitled to monitor employee activity if they have a lawful basis for doing so and the purpose of their monitoring is clearly communicated to employees in advance. Examples of a lawful basis for monitoring include keeping employees safe and secure by preventing crime, preventing employee misconduct, ensuring compliance with health and safety procedures, monitoring and improving productivity.

Employee monitoring by CCTV surveillance should be confined to areas where the risk of infringing employees’ privacy rights are low. The general assumption for CCTV usage in the workplace is for security purposes, but the use for monitoring employee performance or conduct is not an obvious reason. Therefore, employees must be clearly given notice prior to having their personal data recorded for this purpose.

Your employer should be registered with the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) and have a series of data protection policies relating to the use of CCTV cameras. I am not sure how long CCTV has been in operation but if it was before May 2018 they should have been updated at this time to take account of GDPR. These policies should address the purposes for which the CCTV surveillance is being carried out, the conditions in which monitoring will take place, the nature of the monitoring, how individuals’ personal data obtained will be used, how long the footage will be retained, as well as the impact on individuals’ rights.

The use of the CCTV footage in the disciplinary will needed to be weighed up against your company’s compliance with the above.

[Arnie16]

So am I to understand that according to the new GDPR if they dont inform employees either as signage or in a handbook that the CCTV is going to be used to monitor employees the data recorded is of no use,as they were supposed to be using it for security reasons.