Author(s): Elena Ofman, Mikhail Sagandykov
This article is devoted to the examination of legal and ethical issues related to employer implementation of electronic monitoring of employee behavior. To this end, we investigated the legislation and judicial practice of Russia and the United States of America related to the use of modern information and communication systems to assess employee compliance with labor discipline in the workplace. Some shortcomings of the Russian legal system for ensuring the safety of personal (biometric) data of employees were discovered. Attention is also drawn to the irrational and unreasonable use of electronic surveillance of employees in terms of maintaining a balance between production goals and the personal life of the employee. We propose attributing any personal data obtained by the employer as part of their electronic monitoring of employee behavior to biometric personal data. We consider it necessary to obtain employee consent to process biometric personal data, excluding exceptional cases established by law. Similar to US law, we propose to make electronic monitoring possible without prior written notice to employees only if the employer has reasonable grounds to assume that employees are engaged in illegal activities.