Sec. 31-48d. Employers engaged in electronic monitoring required to give prior notice to employees. Exceptions. Civil penalty.
Sec. 31-48d. Employers engaged in electronic monitoring required to give
prior notice to employees. Exceptions. Civil penalty. (a) As used in this section:
(1) "Employer" means any person, firm or corporation, including the state and any
political subdivision of the state which has employees;
(2) "Employee" means any person who performs services for an employer in a
business of the employer, if the employer has the right to control and direct the person
as to (A) the result to be accomplished by the services, and (B) the details and means
by which such result is accomplished; and
(3) "Electronic monitoring" means the collection of information on an employer's
premises concerning employees' activities or communications by any means other than
direct observation, including the use of a computer, telephone, wire, radio, camera,
electromagnetic, photoelectronic or photo-optical systems, but not including the collection of information (A) for security purposes in common areas of the employer's premises which are held out for use by the public, or (B) which is prohibited under state or
federal law.
(b) (1) Except as provided in subdivision (2) of this subsection, each employer
who engages in any type of electronic monitoring shall give prior written notice to all
employees who may be affected, informing them of the types of monitoring which may
occur. Each employer shall post, in a conspicuous place which is readily available for
viewing by its employees, a notice concerning the types of electronic monitoring which
the employer may engage in. Such posting shall constitute such prior written notice.
(2) When (A) an employer has reasonable grounds to believe that employees are
engaged in conduct which (i) violates the law, (ii) violates the legal rights of the employer
or the employer's employees, or (iii) creates a hostile workplace environment, and (B)
electronic monitoring may produce evidence of this misconduct, the employer may
conduct monitoring without giving prior written notice.
(c) The Labor Commissioner may levy a civil penalty against any person that the
commissioner finds to be in violation of subsection (b) of this section, after a hearing
conducted in accordance with sections 4-176e to 4-184, inclusive. The maximum civil
penalty shall be five hundred dollars for the first offense, one thousand dollars for the
second offense and three thousand dollars for the third and each subsequent offense.
(d) The provisions of this section shall not apply to a criminal investigation. Any
information obtained in the course of a criminal investigation through the use of electronic monitoring may be used in a disciplinary proceeding against an employee.
(P.A. 98-142.)