Employee Monitoring Laws of the USA

Employee Monitoring Laws of the USA

In the United States of America monitoring employees is a completely legal activity. Almost all federal and state laws permit employers to monitor their owned devices, especially where there lies the business intent.

Employers can monitor their employees’ attendance, productive time, activities on the internet, screen content, keystrokes, emails, communication, and more. But, that said, there are laws which are governing the extent of monitoring with employee monitoring software in a work environment.

Is it legal to monitor employees in the USA? Yes, in the United States of America it is legal and encouraged to employers to consider, to some extent, monitor employees activities on workplace devices. But, such monitoring needs to be validated with logical business reasons from the organizations.

Some states, however, ask for consent from employees before monitoring. But, as far as, Federal laws are concerned employers have no restrictions/requirements to disclose staff monitoring.

Monitoring employees’ internet and social media activities are legal?

Yes, mostly in all cases employers have the legal right to ensure that the employees are using the workplace’s internet for only work-related jobs. Laws in the U.S. allow employers to track the internet activities of employees like websites visited, URLs opened, the amount of time spent on all sites, and even restrict some websites.

In some states of the U.S., it is permissible for employers to carry out pre-employment background checks on employees before hiring them. In this, they might even ask for social media credentials as a completely legal formality.

Do monitoring employees’ personal devices also come under laws?

In some instances, Yes. If an organization has a policy of bringing its own devices for employees it can track their activities. But, this requires prior information and consent from employees. Also, this tracking is strictly for only job-related tasks.

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Guide to Employee Monitoring Laws of the USA

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