Laws on the Use of Security Cameras in Business Establishments
Surveillance cameras are commonly used in American businesses. U.S. law generally allows the use of surveillance cameras in any publicly accessible area of a business establishment. The law restricts the use of cameras, however, in places where people may have a reasonable expectation of privacy, such as in restroom stalls, according to the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).
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Unions
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Legal cases in recent years have established that labor unions must be notified before businesses install surveillance cameras in union members' workplaces, according to the EPIC. Businesses must also give unions the opportunity to negotiate over surveillance cameras in the workplace.
However, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has declined to rescind disciplinary actions against employees that resulted from the illegal placement of surveillance cameras.
Anheuser-Busch Case
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In 1998, the Anheuser-Busch brewing company used unauthorized surveillance cameras to catch a group of employees who were smoking marijuana and engaging in other misconduct in an elevator motor room at a plant in St. Louis, according to a summary of the case written by the law firm of Sidley Austin Brown & Wood.
The firings of the employees were challenged by their union. The undisclosed installation of the cameras was found to be a violation of labor law, but the disciplinary actions against the employees were upheld by the NLRB in 2004. -
Colgate-Palmolive Case
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A 1997 case involving the use of surveillance cameras by the Colgate-Palmolive company was the first where the NLRB found that employers were required to bargain with unions over the use of cameras, according to the EPIC. The use of cameras was not exempt from bargaining requirements because it was "outside of the scope of managerial decisions lying at the core of entrepreneurial control," the NLRB found.
National Steel Case
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Unions' right to bargain over surveillance cameras in the workplace was re-enforced in a 2001 case involving the National Steel Corporation, according to the EPIC. A union representing National Steel's workers requested information about the company's use of cameras, in response to the Colgate-Palmolive decision. National Steel argued that the unions had no right to bargain over the cameras because they were already in place. The NLRB sided with the union.
Workplace Privacy
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Legal debate over surveillance cameras in the workplace is taking place amid broader issues of workplace privacy, as technology gives employers more means to access information and data about workers. In the United States, under many states' laws and without protections in union agreements or other contracts, employees can be fired for nearly any reason, and have no right to challenge information gathered through surveillance. In some cases, information gathered through surveillance may create false impressions, privacy advocates argue, according to the EPIC.
In Europe, workers have more protections under privacy laws.
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