Dutch Court Rules Company's Webcam Demands is Human Rights Violation

[engine]

A U.S. company demanded an employee in the Netherlands turn on their webcam for monitoring 9-hours per-day, and when the employee objected, they were fired for "insubordination."

A Dutch court has ruled "instructions to keep the webcam turned on is in conflict with the respect for the privacy of the workers" and suggested that its a human rights violation.

“I don’t feel comfortable being monitored for 9 hours a day by a camera. This is an invasion of my privacy and makes me feel really uncomfortable. That is the reason why my camera is not on,” the court document quotes the anonymous employee’s communication to Chetu. The employee suggests that the company was already monitoring him, “You can already monitor all activities on my laptop and I am sharing my screen.”

[techcrunch.com...]

I ask the question about trust: Does the company not trust its employees? There has to be trust between company and employee, and if there isn't there are bigger problems between them, imho.

[Marshall]

Guess I would never get hired by that company as I have my webcam disabled and a post-it note over the lens. Yes, I have trust issues with webcams: I do not trust them.

[graeme_p]

If they are happy with the employee's work, checking what they are doing and how long is unnecessary.

If they cannot tell, then counting hours and monitoring behaviour tells them what the inputs are, not the value of the outputs.

If he is sharing his screen and they are monitoring his laptop already, what will a webcam tell them?

Its very intrusive, and, if you are working from home, can be very problematic.

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

From the article, the company is a Software development & support service that hires developers on demand so they are likely considered contract workers and not actual employees. It will be interesting to see if that matters in court.

The employee already had a screenshare tool on their laptop recording their work but objected to an additional full-time camera watching them for 9 hours per day.

Using a remote screenshare tool isn't new for this type of work and the lawsuit is not really about privacy per say, it's about why the employee was fired. The company claimed they fired the person for "refusal to work’ and ‘insubordination" but dutch courts disagree, he wanted to work and was ready to do so until he became uncomfortable with the extra camera demands.

Labor laws where the company is based are also different than those protecting the employee. This is an interesting case to watch as more jobs are done from home post pandemic. The official court documents are on the dutch gov website here - [uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl...]

The company didn't show up for the hearings, apparently.

[engine]

Either way, it's completely unnecessary for this kind of monitoring, imho.
Productivity is the key, and "watching" employees is slightly creepy.
You wouldn't get this in an office, and you wouldn't sit watching someone at their desk. It's called stalking.

[Dimitri]

Playing the devil's advocate, ... may be this was to be sure this was him effectively doing the work, and not someone else, or that he was not doing other things at the same time, or that there was no one else also looking at the work.

[engine]

Perhaps so, Dimitri, however, that's not good enough a reason to be so intrusive.

[Dimitri]

I agree, ... now , all depends on what is written on in the contract/agreement signed between this worker and the company.

I've been working, not for long, in offices, and the purpose of the open space area, was not to be cool and friendly, it was for supervisors to be able to watch over what employees were effectively doing, and verifying their productivity (not wasting times). So I assume that some companies can't get ride of this habit of spying at workers...

[engine]

it was for supervisors to be able to watch over what employees were effectively doing, and verifying their productivity (not wasting times). So I assume that some companies can't get ride of this habit of spying at workers...

In an office environment, it's entirely normal to communicate with employees on how they are "getting on", and that is seen as helpful, and a productivity enhancer. However, you would not sit next to an employee watching them work. It's not normal. What is normal? Well, it's not being creepy and intrusive.