The Law in New York on Videotaping While at Work
- There are multiple reasons for employers to record employees on video. A bank or jewelry store may monitor employees to detect and deter theft, for example. Companies also monitor employees to see whether they're using their time productively. In most states, including New York, employers are free to videotape you and your fellow employees without notifying you. However, courts have held that videotaping can be unacceptably intrusive -- for example, if it takes place in a restroom. If a workplace is unionized, the union must agree to any monitoring.
- New York labor law specifically states that employees cannot videotape employees in restrooms, locker rooms or any room the employer has designated as a changing room. The law exempts law enforcement officers who make such tapes in the course of their duties. If an employer breaks the law and makes a tape, it's also illegal to use the tape in any way. It's also forbidden, under federal law, for employers to tape union meetings.
- New York state doesn't restrict videotaping outside of bathrooms and locker rooms, but that doesn't guarantee cameras are acceptable everywhere else. If a videotaping case goes to court, judges balance two competing interests: The employer's right to control activities on the premises and the employees' reasonable expectation of privacy. Courts have sometimes sided with employees who didn't know for certain they'd been taped, because the cameras were set up for potential taping in an inappropriate area.
- If you decide to sue your employer in a case that doesn't violate New York's labor law, you'll have to convince the court that the videotaping did intrude on your privacy. You may also have to show that the intrusion was intentional: If you change clothes in your office, a court might decide it's not the employer's fault you were caught naked on camera, for instance. Your best bet is if your employer has a policy on workplace surveillance and you can show that she violated it.