Written by: Haim Ravia, Dotan Hammer
In a recent landmark decision, the Israeli National Labor Court clarified the conditions for lawful use of surveillance cameras at the workplace, without it constituting an actionable degradation in work conditions.
The ruling addresses an appeal against the regional labor court’s decision that had essentially assumed that any use of surveillance cameras at the workplace is deemed an actionable degradation in work conditions, thereby awarding resigning employees with full eligibility for severance.
The National Labor Court relied on a past landmark decision regarding employer access to email correspondence. The Court laid down a three-step test: (1) the employer must establish a legitimate reason for placing the cameras, (2) the employer must assess the extent of harm to the employees’ privacy, and (3) the surveillance must be proportionate, with appropriate consent sought and obtained, yet the nature and significance of the required consent is derived from the degree of harm to the employees’ privacy. The greater the impact on privacy, the more explicit the required consent.
Click here to read the National Labor Court decision (in Hebrew).
