EXPLAINER: Can your employer monitor your work laptop? Here’s what the law says

The National Privacy Commission says employers may monitor company-issued computers, but only if they comply with the Data Privacy Act and respect employees’ privacy rights.

Many employees assume that once they’re using a company-issued laptop, their employer can monitor everything they do without restrictions. The National Privacy Commission (NPC) says that’s not the case.

Employers may monitor employees’ activities on office-issued computers, but only if the practice complies with the Data Privacy Act of 2012 (DPA), according to the commission. The guidance is based on NPC Advisory Opinion No. 2018-084.

Workplace monitoring, it said, is not automatically a violation of the law. However, employers must follow the DPA’s principles of transparency, legitimate purpose, and proportionality.

That means monitoring should never be done in secret. Employees should be informed that monitoring is taking place, understand why it is being conducted—such as for productivity or cybersecurity—and know how it will be carried out.

The NPC also said employers should have a clear company policy explaining what personal data may be collected, who can access it, how long it will be kept, how it will be protected, and how employees can raise complaints if they believe their privacy rights have been violated.

Some forms of monitoring may go too far.

NPC cited software that records every keystroke or takes random screenshots of an employee’s computer as examples that could be considered excessive and disproportionate, unless the employer can clearly justify why such measures are necessary.

The reminder also underscores that employees do not lose their data privacy rights simply because they are using company-owned devices during working hours.

While employers may monitor office-issued computers for legitimate business reasons, the NPC said such monitoring should have clear limits and should not collect more personal information than necessary.

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