Country_Girl Posted September 1, 2011 Posted September 1, 2011 I'm wondering if after hours, off the clock activities can be monitored legally by employers. I work in retail. A friend works in loss prevention, and has a superior above him. He walked into the LP office one day to see his superior reviewing tapes of him leaving the store after hours (there are cameras surrounding the building) and meeting up with a fellow employee. This friend is not a manager, and as stated in the employee handbook, employees are free to date whoever they want as long as it is not a manager in your department. He was then questioned if he was dating this girl he met up with. WTF business is it of his? It's not against the rules. I heard that the company has some quota, and has to have so many internal cases each month, so what, they are looking to create drama and go against fellow employees. I don't know, the whole thing has me weirded out now. So, if they can't catch shoplifters, they are going to intrude on employee relations that don't go against any code? Is this even legal, what this friend does in his personal time?
HeartOfAPhoenix Posted September 1, 2011 Posted September 1, 2011 My father is in a managing position, his company recently hired a private investigator to watch one of the employees because of suspicions of him stealing company equipment and selling the equipment on ebay. I don't believe there are any laws preventing a company from spying on employees as long as they aren't heavily stalking them. Companies watch the social networks quite often which is a form of the same thing. In the case at my dad's work the private investigator watched the employee for 2 weeks. watched the outside of his house, followed him to work, set up cameras in the work place and parking lot, followed him home, and watched as the employee went about his day. The employee had no idea he was being watched during this time and was caught stealing during those 2 weeks on several occasions, and the investigator had video footage of the employee moving equipment into and out of his garage. From what you have described from your post I doubt upper management would rag on this employee for dating someone in the company when it doesn't break any rules. There is either another reason for the monitoring, or the manager is very jealous. Also, don't be so freaked out by this. I'm sure they have probably nosed around the social networks and have found you, but as far as physical monitoring goes you should be fine if you haven't broken any company policies.
Lucky_One Posted September 1, 2011 Posted September 1, 2011 Both employees were at the building after hours, and one of them had previously been in the building? I'd be curious, too, if I were the supervisor in charge of loss prevention. With estimates that about 75% of employees steal from their businesses (and most do it repeatedly) and that 20% of every dollar earned by the company is lost to theft, you can see why a company might be interested in why an employee is leaving the building after hours and meeting up with an employee in the parking lot. While it may be none of a company's business if two employees are dating, it IS company business if they are using company resources to further their relationship (company emails, screwing around in storage areas, spending time they should be working talking to each other or meeting, etc.). Those issues ARE company theft, as well. Tell your friend that he should conduct all of his romantic business after office hours and off office premises.
Recommended Posts