The European Court of Human Rights has found that covert surveillance of an employee at workplace must be considered to be intrusion into private life

Supermarket cashiers suspected of theft had their privacy breached after their employer used hidden video cameras to spy on them. The case concerned the covert video surveillance of a Spanish supermarket chain’s employees after suspicions of theft had arisen. The applicants were dismissed mainly on the basis of the video material, which they alleged had been obtained by breaching their right to privacy. The Spanish courts accepted the recordings in evidence and upheld the dismissal decisions.

The employees challenged their dismissals before the Spanish courts arguing that the use of covert video surveillance in the workplace without prior notice was unlawful. These challenges were unsuccessful so they raised proceedings before the ECHR alleging that the covert video surveillance violated their right to privacy protected by Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Court held that Article 8 was engaged by the facts. The applicants’ employer in installing the covert cameras had not complied with the Spanish legislation on data protection (which required them to explicitly advise the applicants as to the personal data that would be processed on them). The Spanish Data Protection Agency had also issued an instruction clarifying that this required anyone using video surveillance to place a distinctive sign indicating the areas that were under surveillance.

In these circumstances, the Court found there had been a violation of Article 8 and awarded the applicants 4,000 euros each in respect of non-pecuniary damages.