Written Policy on Electronic Monitoring of Employees

Last week, the Ontario Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills / Travail, Immigration, Formation et Compétences posted guidance to employers about the mandatory written policy on electronic monitoring in the workplace.
As employers know, the written policy is mandatory for employers that have 25+ employees on January 1 of any year.

The guidance contains a few notable points:

• “Where an employer has multiple locations, all employees employed at each location in Ontario must be included when determining whether the 25 employee threshold has been met.”
• “For example, an employer owns three wine shops with 12 employees employed in each shop on January 1. This employer employs 36 employees. The employer must have a written policy in place for all employees on the electronic monitoring of employees, even though there are fewer than 25 employees employed at each individual shop.”

• ” In certain circumstances, two or more employers may be treated as one employer under the ESA. If two or more employers are treated as one employer, then all employees employed in Ontario by these two or more employers are included in the count.”

• “Employees” include workers at home, employees on lay-off or leave or on strike (among others)

• “If, on January 1, an employer employs fewer than 25 employees in Ontario, then the ESA does not require that the employer have a policy in place on the electronic monitoring of employees. This is the case even if the employer’s employee count increases at a later point in the same calendar year.”

• The policy must apply to all employees, but the employer can have different policies for different employees as it sees fit.

The guidance also contains some requirements for a proper written policy and a nice checklist at the end.

Click the following link to read the full policy.

Reach out to our Employment Law Team if you have any questions.