When installing cameras, doesn’t hurt to get employees’ consent

Q         We plan to install security cameras in the production area of our nonunion food packaging facility because of an increase in damaged product and safety incidents. Can we post signs at all entrances stating surveillance cameras are in use, or do we need to have each employee sign a waiver?

A   Security cameras are a staple of the workplace in many different industries, including retail, manufacturing, food packaging, and in some laboratory settings. The question isn’t whether you can install cameras, but what type of notice and acknowledgment you must obtain from workers to comply with applicable state worker privacy laws.

In Colorado, you cannot record conversations with your employees without consent. Nor can you record employees in bathrooms, changing rooms, or other locations where they may not be clothed.

Employees generally don’t have an expectation of privacy in the common areas of the workplace, such as on the packing floor or other operational areas of the workplace that you seem to be describing in this situation. While you don’t, per se, need to do anything other than notify employees there are surveillance cameras capturing video only, it wouldn’t hurt to obtain a consent form as well to make it clear they have no such expectation.

Jeremy B. Merkelson is a partner with Holland & Hart LLP in Denver, Colorado. You can reach him at jbmerkelson@hollandhart.com.