Wait…. What?
Yes, in Shore Point Distribution Co., Inc., the NLRB’s General Counsel’s Office issued an Advice Memorandum yesterday (dated October 15, 2015) in which it stated that an employer did not violate Section 8(a)(5) of the National Labor Relations Act by failing to bargain with union before installing a GPS device on an employee’s truck.
In March 2015, the employer became concerned that one of its employees was taking more time than other drivers to complete the same routes. It therefore hired a private investigator to follow and videotape the driver on his routes. The employer placed a GPS device on the employee’s truck to ensure that the investigator would be able to regain contact with the truck if he lost visual contact during the course of the surveillance. Over the course of his surveillance of the employee, the investigator personally observed the employee engaging in work rule violations including operating his truck in an unsafe and illegal manner, failing to follow specified delivery times, stealing time, and falsifying his daily log. Finally, after the GPS located the employee stopped in the employee’s hometown, he located the employee’s truck parked in the driveway at his home during work hours. Thereafter, the employer terminated the employee based on the investigator’s report. There is no indication that the employee was ever aware that the GPS device had been installed on his truck or that the employer had notified its employees that it might use GPS tracking for any reason in association with their employment.
Hard to see the NLRB’s General Counsel going along with this. Obviously, there are some other facts at play here.
First, the collective bargaining agreement contained work rules that prohibited drivers from “stealing time” and requiring that they adhere to Department of Transportation regulations mandating that drivers accurately account for their time on daily log records.
Second, the employer “has a practice of retaining a private investigator to follow an employee suspected of stealing time and using any results obtained through the investigator’s personal observations for disciplinary purposes.” The union was aware of this practice and “has no objection to it.”Continue Reading NLRB General Counsel Advice Memo absolves employer for not bargaining over use of GPS devices to track employee