A new city policy will govern the electronic monitoring of numerous facets of city staff’s work.
Passed at council committee Monday evening, the policy results from Bill 88, Digital Platform Workers’ Rights Act, which was enacted by the provincial government in April 2022 and mandates employers with more than 25 employees to implement an electronic monitoring policy by Oct. 11.
The new city policy, Electronic Monitoring of Employees at Work, outlines electronic monitoring across 13 areas, some of which are as follows:
- Email, internet, laptops, financial and city software, monitoring access to websites and city employee emails, as well the city’s software systems, to “ensure appropriate use of the internet and city email.”
- GPS in city fleet vehicles, some of which include snowplows, sanders, and sidewalk machines, to “monitor locations of snowplows, etc. for public inquiries and compliance of road maintenance standards.
- City cell and landline telephone invoices, to “ensure city telephones are being used appropriately and no fraudulent charges are posted.”
- On-call and standby city cell phones for calls made and received, to “ensure employees meet the requirements of on-call/standby” and that city staff “meet the requirements of on-call/standby.”
- Security alarm codes across more than a dozen city buildings, to “ensure appropriate city employees are entering and leaving the City facilities when required.”
The city policy was prepared following discussions at an Ontario Municipal Human Resources Association session outlining all areas for electronic monitoring of employees.
Representatives from 81 municipalities participated in the session, and a staff report notes these municipalities “will be preparing very similar policies to meet the mandated legislative requirement.”
Under Bill 88, employers are required to make employees aware of the purpose and circumstances in which they will be electronically monitored. The policy passed Monday does not introduce any new monitoring, but outlines where electronic monitoring will take place.
There was no discussion among councillors about this issue at Monday's hour-long committee meeting.
Decisions made at Monday’s council committee meeting are subject to ratification at the next council meeting Sep. 19.
