Is a visible camera legal in a locker room, break room and/or time clock area?
Get Legal Help Today
Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save
Secured with SHA-256 Encryption
Is a visible camera legal in a locker room, break room and/or time clock area?
At out place of employment in an industrial industry. Where drivers come in to the building, use the time clock, walk to the locker or break room table. Note the time clock has lockers across from it and all around the break table. If paperswere brought in by a employee that could be used against him or her and caught on the camera film can this be used against the employee if the camera is illegal to have in this combined area?
Asked on July 8, 2016 under Employment Labor Law, Michigan
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 7 years ago | Contributor
A video camera may be placed anywere but where it is reasonable or normal to believe employees would be undressed or using the facilities. So there could not be a camera is a locker room, even if there is also a break table in it, unless there is some physical screen or barrier between the part where employees change and where they would not be in a state of undress.
Note that even if a camera is in an inappropriate area, anything caught on film could be used against the employee: this is not a government/police search, and the 4th amendment, for example, does not apply. If a private citizen or employer invades another's privacy and, in the course of doing so, sees or records damaging behavior or damaging material, that behavior or material may be used against the person filmed; at the same time, the person filmed may have a legal action against the one who filmed him or her inappropriately. But being able to sue or file a criminal complaint against being filmed while undressed, for example, does not invalidate the behavior, etc. caught on film or prevent it from being used.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.