Section 6 - There are major privacy issues involved with this. Working at a job that allows constant monitoring of employees via CCTV creates a tense and untrustworthy scenario. Having worked at a job like this myself, I often feared that I would be "caught doing something", even if I wasn't doing anything wrong. There is a difference between having CCTV to detract theft from customers, but treating employees like cattle that need to stay in line violates not only personal privacy, but the whole premise of this legislation. As for bag searches, this is also a huge privacy violation. If an employee is believed to be shoplifting, most businesses have a security guard on duty who can be brought in to execute a search with reasonable cause. I would NEVER allow my employer to search my personal belongings, even though I would also never steal from my employer. Also, allowing monitoring of employees "under investigation" only furthers the "police state" vibe I get from this section. This is about protecting workers' rights, not trying to find evidence to arrest them. Employers may collect evidence without monitoring employees, and still have enough of it to fire and/or prosecute an employee.
Section 6, Clause 2 states "Employers shall tell all employees about the monitoring process that take place in their workplace.", Clause 3 states "Monitoring of employees shall not be excessive and should be justifiable" and Clause 6 states "Employees shall be made aware of the locations of every CCTV camera in their premise." This would reduce concerns that people are being monitored excessively and without a reason.
That answer doesn't seem to address R2D2's question. Specifically what type of special monitoring is permitted on employees who are suspected or under investigation for wrongdoing? Section 6, subsection 7 of this bill appears to allow for 'enhanced' investigation of certain employees.
