Of course there are exceptions to the rules and employees can be monitored without being informed, but only when specifically allowed. “An employer may only conduct surveillance of a worker in a workplace if the employer gives written notice to the worker under this section and the surveillance is conducted in accordance with the notice.” - NSW Workplace Surveillance Act 2005
#Boss pc monitoring software software
This along with exactly what is being monitored needs to be clearly outlined and presented to each employee in a manner they understand no less than 14 days prior to any monitoring software being installed or activated.
#Boss pc monitoring software install
What employers can’t do is install monitoring software without advising employees they’re doing so. NSW’s and the ACT’s are far more appropriate and for those states with no direct regulation, offer a precedence in how employers might go about implementing electronic surveillance in an appropriate and legal manner.įor the most part, an employer is within their rights to install or dictate the installation of any monitoring software on a computer they supply for the purposes of work. It makes little to no mention of electronic surveillance and is only peripherally relevant. Victoria’s Surveillance Devices Act (1999) predominately deals with the unlawful monitoring and recording of staff using optical and audio devices as well as the regulations of tracking devices. NSW has the most comprehensive version known as the Workplace Surveillance Act (2005), in the ACT there’s the Workplace Privacy Act of 2011 and Victoria has the oldest and loosely applicable Surveillance Devices Act of 1999. Some states have proactively modernised their regulations and introduced legislation that specifically caters to today’s modern workspace, whilst others have been left in the dark ages with little change or no specific regulations at all.Ĭurrently there are three states with targeted legislation relating to surveillance in the workplace.
In Australia the matter of employee surveillance and their right to privacy is a complicated mess of federal and state laws. The short answer is yes, but it isn’t without its complications. I decided to seek legal advice about whether or not my employer could rightfully force the installation of software that would monitor my computer.
With no more information about it, I had no idea what it would do, how it would do it and what impact it would have on my computer. That was a month ago, but even then, I knew the time would come that the option wasn’t presented and rather I’d be forced to instead. “Then I’ll stop you right there, good Sir.” “Think of it as an anti-virus program that can also check for network intrusions” they said. Asked to do so by the higher ups, the only information they could offer was that it would monitor both the computer’s network traffic and its files and inform someone if there was something it deemed potentially malicious. Recently I found myself in the unusual situation where a work colleague wanted to install a piece of software on my computer that monitored in some way.
0 kommentar(er)
