FACT FINDERS: Working from home and privacy issues

TUCSON, Ariz. (KOLD News 13) - Feel like your boss is always monitoring you as you work from home?

Or, if you’re a boss, do you wonder if your employees are really working as much as they should from home?

Privacy and working from home can get tricky.

At the office, a boss can often simply walk by an employee and see if they’re working. However, when they’re working from home and a boss questions what they’re doing, that’s a little more difficult.

Debora Verdier with Cavanagh Law Firm says in this case, equipment matters.

She encourages employers to not let employees use their personal laptops at home. She says if they are on a company computer, it’s easier to monitor employees with tracking software and avoid a potential dispute about privacy issues.

”As long as they’re using your equipment, and your server, and all of that, you have the right to monitor their actions and their behavior just like you do here at the office,” said Verdier.

Verdier says that way if you are concerned your employee is not working their full hours, for example, you can see what they are really doing during the day. This may also help with wage and hour claims. If a worker says they didn’t take a lunch or worked late, you may be able to verify that easier.

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