Description: Mackenzie Irwin of the firm Samfiru Tumarkin LLP in Toronto, practices in the area of employment law. Irwin observed that over the pandemic, with so many working remotely, some employers began tracking employee activity online, trying to sift out the YouTube time-wasting from the spreadsheet work. But starting Tuesday, the Working for Workers Act means employers in Ontario cannot watch their employees in secret any longer, perhaps unleashing significant morale issues in the workforce.

Date: October 11, 2022

Source:  cbc.ca

 Link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canadians-workers-employers-tracking-1.6612228

Discussion points:

1) Do you know if your employer has ever used electronic monitoring on you?

2) How would you respond if you found out your employer was monitoring you this way?

3) On page 7-3 of Wiley’s Financial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision-Making we see a discussion of how employers make cashiers accountable for their cash drawers by assigning responsibility, a widely-accepted technique for checking employees to ensure no money goes missing. Why would this technique of supervision be considered acceptable whereas many would protest about the notion that their employer could now tell when a co-worker is surfing online instead of working?