Being watched on cctv.

[GaiusHelenMohiam]

I’m assistant manager of a pub/restaurant. Since December I have been managing it in the absense of a permanent general manager. I was utterly swamped over Christmas so the company sent a deputy manager from another store to help me. He swiftly took over and treated me like dirt. I dealt with this and things settled.

Then he went off with Covid. He came back to work yesterday and one of the first things he said was that he’d been watching us remotely on cctv while at home and gave me a list of things he felt we’d done wrong.

I’m seriously creeped out by this. I know he watches from the office when he’s here and I think that’s weird enough but this feels actually quite violating.

He is leaving very soon as we now have a GM in place who will join in a few weeks but I’m considering escalating this. But I don’t know if he’s actually done anything wrong?

Aibu to think watching your colleagues from home in order to catch them ‘slacking’ or whatever is a huge breach of boundaries?

He has done something wrong. I would escalate this.

In pure data protection terms, I would imagine that the CCTV is in place for the detection and prevention of crime, not for monitoring staff. I can guess without looking there's nothing in the privacy notice to suggest that CCTV can be used this way!

Secondly, he is accessing systems and processed personal data without the approval of the Data Controller (the pub/brewery), and even from home (how did he manage this?).

Notwithstanding the total violation of workers rights, the data protection issues are enough for an investigator by management and DPO.

Thats so creepy

You are not a reality tv show for other people's amusement. I would be seriously pissed off by this and has already been said it probably violates some data protection laws. Definitely make a formal complaint.

If you're on CCTV then it's presumably a potential as live, or recorded. I guess he was working from home so as not to lose pay or trying to look dedicated or such.

You could query about the security risk to customers of all that recorded footage being potentially stored on private devices/ unsecured WiFi etc

I don't think he should be able to access CCTV from home. That's really strange.

Could always start with a Subject Access Request and ask him/the pub to hand over all the data they have on you - including CCTV footage. See what happens.

Take it higher. There are very specific rules about filming staff, the first is that they know they are being filmed and watched.
A friend worked at Specsavers, she said their boss used to film them working and watch from the office. Each time they did something wrong it would be shown to everyone at the staff meeting under the guise of staff training. They have a high staff turnover!

He wasn’t working from home. He was off sick.

Google your companies name and ‘data controller’ - see if you can find details of your companies team through that mechanism. I’m sure they’d be interested to know about how data is being used outside of their own systems etc

I used to work in a supermarket and they were very clear in staff training that CCTV was not to be used for purposes of spying on staff but to cover for theft and assaults. It's there as a protective measure not so Big Brother or a creepy jobsworth can keep tabs on everyone.

Definitely escalate, it's a massive overreach on his part and I bet the company won't be happy with him.

@GaiusHelenMohiam

He wasn’t working from home. He was off sick.

So why were they allowed access to company systems ?

A good companies sickness policy should cover the situation around WFH/External access to systems when an employee is off sick. If not simply to ensure there is no danger of the employee feeling harassed or under some obligation to read/respond to emails.

Next question is who else has seen the footage ? I'd class is as personal data so some form of audit should be in place. Along with a definitive list of personnel who have access.

Well it’s out of my hands now, I fed it up the chain and they’re starting an investigation. HR replied to my email within two minutes so they are all over this.

@GaiusHelenMohiam

Well it’s out of my hands now, I fed it up the chain and they’re starting an investigation. HR replied to my email within two minutes so they are all over this.

Good !

I'd hope they'd be able to answer the points upthread.

Out of curiosity were any customers also caught by the CCTV ? Is the signage in the building clear ?

Customers definitely. I’m not sure there are any signs up now I think of it but the cameras are obvious.

Well done for escalating this. It's as creepy as hell.

Please keep us informed as to what happens. That’s so wrong.

@GaiusHelenMohiam

Customers definitely. I’m not sure there are any signs up now I think of it but the cameras are obvious.

www.gov.uk/can-i-use-cctv-at-my-commercial-premises

@GaiusHelenMohiam

Well it’s out of my hands now, I fed it up the chain and they’re starting an investigation. HR replied to my email within two minutes so they are all over this.

Great job 👍

So pleased you reported this! He sounds like a megalomaniac, if not a perve! I hope he gets dragged through the mud over this one!

@Justilou1

So pleased you reported this! He sounds like a megalomaniac, if not a perve! I hope he gets dragged through the mud over this one!

Depends on whether he has had the appropriate training, really. It's not an ideal situation, but it happens.

You definitely did the right thing in reporting it - accessing CCTV in order to watch staff from home is not OK, especially if the guy is only with you temporarily.

I work in a supermarket and it is very explicit in our CCTV/Security policies that it is not to be used to monitor staff working, it is there for safety and security of customers and staff and it will only be reviewed to watch specific staff members if there has been some sort of incident that requires it (eg serious complaint, accusation of theft, serious accident etc) and it can only be viewed by specific people in the security office on site.

You definitely did the right thing in reporting it - accessing CCTV in order to watch staff from home is not OK, especially if the guy is only with you temporarily.

While that's true, it's also entirely possible they haven't received any explicit guidance on GDPR and data protection. It's all very well relying on "common sense", but as a rule, I'd rather not trust to it.

Only the OPs company know their policies (or lack of ...). And it it turns out the person in question wasn't given the appropriate guidance, the liability goes up the chain.

All our training is online and the company are very hot on it. I’ve done two separate modules on GDPR, one at entry level and a deeper one when I got to management level.

There’s no way he hasn’t done the modules.

@FedUpWithBriiiiick

He has done something wrong. I would escalate this.

In pure data protection terms, I would imagine that the CCTV is in place for the detection and prevention of crime, not for monitoring staff. I can guess without looking there's nothing in the privacy notice to suggest that CCTV can be used this way!

Secondly, he is accessing systems and processed personal data without the approval of the Data Controller (the pub/brewery), and even from home (how did he manage this?).

Notwithstanding the total violation of workers rights, the data protection issues are enough for an investigator by management and DPO.

Yep, this. As well as being creepy I'd be very surprised if he hadn't breached something.

@GaiusHelenMohiam

All our training is online and the company are very hot on it. I’ve done two separate modules on GDPR, one at entry level and a deeper one when I got to management level.

There’s no way he hasn’t done the modules.

Well I'd hope that would be the case. However I know from personal experience there is a management "style" that takes the view "Why waste £x on a certification for staff". Which invariably manifests in a "so ?" attitude to data protection.

Sounds like your firm have got a grip on it. Let them run with it. Still nothing to stop you putting in a SAR if you want though.