Maine Enacts Law Requiring Employers to Notify Employees About Surveillance Tools

Quick Hits

• Maine recently enacted a law requiring employers to notify employees and job applicants about employee surveillance.
• The law does not apply to cameras used in the workplace for safety and security purposes.
• The law took effect immediately without the governor’s signature.

In recent years, more employers have begun using technology to track employee movements and actions. This may include cameras in the workplace, GPS tracking on phones and wearable devices, keystroke monitoring, and biometric monitoring. Some employers use these tools to identify potential areas for cost savings and encourage productivity and efficiency. Others use them to effectively manage administrative tasks, including tracking mileage for employee reimbursement and monitoring sales activities. These tools tend to be more commonly used in industries such as trucking, delivery, construction, utilities, sales, and home healthcare.

Under the new Maine law, employers using surveillance must (1) inform job applicants about the surveillance during the interview process and (2) provide written notice at least once per year to all impacted employees. The law broadly defines surveillance to include all types of data collection.

Notably, L.D. 61 prohibits employers from requiring employees to install surveillance tools on their personal devices without first obtaining permission from impacted employees. The law further allows employees to decline employer requests to install tracking and data collection tools on their personal devices for surveillance purposes.  

The law also prohibits employers from using audiovisual monitoring in an employee’s residence or personal vehicle, or on the employee’s property, unless the audiovisual monitoring is required for the duties of the job. L.D. 61 does not apply to cameras installed in the workplace for security or safety purposes, or GPS trackers and other safety devices on company-owned vehicles operated by employees. It also does not apply to surveillance tools installed by an employer, patient, client, or unpaid caregiver in a setting in which employees provide personal care services.

Employers that violate this law may be subject to a fine of $100 to $500 for each violation.

Next Steps

Employers in Maine may wish to review and update their written policies and practices regarding employee surveillance to ensure compliance with state and federal privacy laws. They may wish to assess the effectiveness of the technology they are currently using to monitor workers.

Ogletree Deakins’ Portland (ME) office and Cybersecurity and Privacy Practice Group will continue to monitor developments and will provide updates on the Cybersecurity and Privacy, Maine, and Technology blogs as new information becomes available.

Aimee Blanchard Parsons is a shareholder in Ogletree Deakins’ Portland (ME) office.

This article was co-authored by Leah J. Shepherd, who is a writer in Ogletree Deakins’ Washington, D.C., office.

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