How GPS tracking can cost €40000
After reading a recent article in the Irish Examiner about a pharmaceutical company from Armagh, Northern Ireland, we were inspired to write something about how to properly implement a GPS tracking or Fleet management system in a company.
The summary of the article is as follows:
The company covertly installed a GPS tracker in the cars of all sales staff in 2008 as sales were lower than expected.
In August 2008, they fired their employee, for inaccurately completed expense forms.
The employee took a case against his former employer for unfair dismissal with the Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT).
EAT awarded the employee €40000 awards stating the employer had breached the trust of its employee by covertly installing the GPS system and that whilst the employee's expenses were inaccurate they were not gratuitously false way as claimed by the company.
The very short version of the rules are as follows:
Employees must be aware that the tracking unit is in their vehicle.
The only time it could ever be justified not informing the employee is if there was a question over illegal activity (inaccurate expenses don't count!)
An example can be seen here on the data commissioners website in Ireland:
We issue our customers and prospective customers with a set of guidelines in our implementation kit. The kit contains a one page cheat sheet on best practice implementation, a list of do's and don'ts and sample letters or text to be entered into employment contracts.
A quick summary of best practice could be covered in 3 steps:
1. Inform employees of your intention to implement GPS tracking including all the reasons that you want to use it, a complete list of the information it will record, how the information will be used and any changes in work practices that will occur after implementation.
2. Give the employees a letter or if possible amend employment contracts to state that a tracking system has been installed and how it will be used.
If you do not clearly state to employees how the system will be used, there could be confusion in the future. For instance if the employee had been told the GPS tracker was installed for insurance reasons, and then was disciplined for inaccurate expenses or time sheets, the company would be in a weak position if a complaint was raised.
3. If an employee is allowed to use the vehicle privately, they will either need to agree that the tracking can stay on or the settings need to be adjusted to block recording of private use (95% of our customers have agreement from employees that the GPS trackers stay on).
In France companies are obliged to file a copy of the letter they have given to their staff in relation to GPS tracking with the CNIL, their equivalent of the data commissioner. This measure is in place to protect both the employer and employee in the event of a disagreement proof of the tracker being installed and the reasons for implementation are held with an independent 3rd party.
In summary, Correct implementation is not a big step and it is something that can be achieved in a few minutes with the aid our our kit
