Security & Fraud

Who's watching you?

To what extent are your employees entitled to privacy? Should they be allowed to conduct their activities without intrusion, covert or otherwise by their employers? In a recent case before the Supreme Court of British Columbia, Richardson vs. Davis Wire, the court ruled that the company was within its rights to employ a covert camera system when other empolyees brought to management's attention that an employee had been sleeping on the job.

The key issue is whether an employee has a reasonable expectation of privacy or not. For example, an employee may have an expectation of privacy in a washroom or a change room. In some cases, where employees are boarded at the worksite, there may be an expectation of privacy throughout the living quarters. However, if the employer advises that employees may be under electronic surveillance in these areas, it may remove the expectation of privacy and so allow the employer to employ the equipment in those areas.

In one case I was involved in a client suspected that a male employee was watching female employees through a hole in a ceiling tile when the females were using the washroom. We found soft pornographic material in the ceiling of the mens' washroom and on that basis, installed a CCTV system to document whatever activity could be observed in the ceiling. The effort was successful and the offending employee chose to resign his position with the client company.

In another case, people were suspected of sabotaging product by introducing noxious substances to food mixtures at a food processing plant. However, the client was unable to determine at what stage the sabotage occurred, since the problem was not identified in the plant until near the end of the process. In that case, we employed cameras and undercover agents throughout the plant at each area that was susceptible to interference by employees. Again, the effort was successful and the company was able to dismiss the offending employees with cause.

There are many situations in which a CCTV system may prove useful. In the investigation of drug and alcohol abuse at the workplace, in the investigations of internal theft and in determining the effectiveness of employees, including supervisory staff, to mention just a few.

If you feel that your business may benefit from the employment of such a system, remember that each camera employed has a limited field of view. If the activity you wish to observe takes place outside of that field of vision, you won't see it and it may be necessary to employ additional systems to be successful. In addition, as a general rule, the wider the field of view, the less detail you will see.

My best advice is to speak to your investigation company and allow them to tour the site. Having done so, they should be able to recommend what equipment may be necessary, or suggest other avenues of investigation.

Bill Joynt is a well-known private investigator with The Investigator's Group in Toronto. He can be contacted at 416-955-9450 or by e-mail at billj@investigators-group.com.