I have a tablet provided by the employer. The tablet has an app that allows video chat. Can my employer legally ask me to use the “video” chat?
Ann Kiernan replies:
Yes. It is perfectly legal to require employees to keep their cameras on during video calls, conferences, or webinars. It’s a proven way to keep everyone focused on the meeting, instead of looking at email, texting, surfing the web, or doing other work. In fact, a recent study showed that, if they kept their cameras on, 82% of participants in an online meeting would not multitask.
What can be a problem is recording an online meeting. While federal law and the law of most states allow participants to record any meeting or phone call they attend, in a number of states, including California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, and Massachusetts, everybody must consent to being recorded. If you have international participants, information on a call or video conference may implicate privacy laws like the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Posted 07-21-2020
Information here is correct at the time it is posted. Case decisions cited here may be reversed. Please do not rely on this information without consulting an attorney first.