Surveillance at the workplace

An employer may use CCTV as a means of technical surveillance under certain conditions to safeguard employees, property or customers, or to oversee a production process. CCTV may nevertheless not be used for monitoring any individual employee at a workplace, nor may it be installed in employee washrooms and workrooms.

The employer and employees must discuss any decision to introduce CCTV monitoring through a formal co-operation procedure. The employees must be advised of the surveillance and customers must be notified.

In principle employers are not permitted to open messages sent to the e-mail addresses of their employees, except in specifically prescribed abnormal situations and under certain conditions.

During the employee’s illness, holiday or other long-term absence from work, an employer may, under circumstances prescribed by law, examine e-mail messages concerning the employer that have arrived at the employee’s e-mail address. The primary procedure for opening e-mail messages always involves the employee’s consent. The employer and employees must discuss e-mail issues through a formal co-operation procedure at the workplace.

Procedures during the absence of an employee:

• an autoresponder notifies the sender that the employee is absent, and provides the contact details of the deputy attending to the employee’s duties,
• the employee forwards incoming messages to another person designated for this purpose,
• the employee gives either oral or written consent to an arrangement allowing a specified person to open e-mail messages when the employee is absent from work.