The Internet of Things' impact on Employment Law

Scott Fanning was quoted in Inside Counsel on June 12, 2015. The article “The Internet of Things’ impact on Employment Law” explored how Internet of Things (IoT) technology will impact employee safety, productivity, privacy and more.

Scott was quoted on some of the legal matters arising from the IoT, including matters of safety, productivity, privacy and more.

For starters, since just about anything can be connected to the IoT, companies can leverage this technology to increase efficiency and gather massive amounts of data, say, about their supply chain or, Scott pointed out, how employees are interacting. “Employees can be connected to the workplace and monitored and tracked, just as supplies could be,” he noted, stating that many companies have radio-frequency identification (RFID) chips in employee badges. As of now, Scott doesn’t know of any U.S. companies that have taken a page from a Swedish company that has implanted RFID chips subcutaneously (in fact, some states already have laws on the books that prohibit this).

But, companies that can track employee movement through their badges can see where they are and even how active they are. This can have benefits, said Scott: “If you see someone going to a supply closet more often than normal and you have a supply deficit, that could be the cause.” But companies could easily abuse this ability, tracking employee time in restrooms, for example.

To read the full article, please visit Inside Counsel.