Prior Notice Not Required to Place GPS Tracking Devices in Company Vehicles

In a case of first impression, the Connecticut Superior Court, in granting a motion to dismiss, found an employer does not violate Conn. Gen. Stat. § 31-48d by placing a GPS tracking device in a company vehicle without prior notice to employees operating the vehicle. Vitka v. City of Bridgeport, 2007 Conn. Super LEXIS 3486 (Conn. Super. Ct. Dec. 31, 2007).

The city of Bridgeport placed GPS devices in vehicles used by fire inspectors, without informing them. Plaintiff was fired after the device showed he used the vehicle for unauthorized purposes. Plaintiff then brought suit claiming the employer violated § 31-48d, which requires employers to inform employees in writing prior to conducting any form of electronic monitoring on its premises. Statutory notice need not be given when the monitoring takes place in common areas held out for public use, or when it is done based on prior reasonable suspicion that employees are engaged in unlawful behavior and monitoring may produce evidence of such misconduct. Here, the employer had no such prior suspicion, but simply wanted to gather information about its employees’ use of company vehicles.

Even though plaintiff argued the installation of a GPS device was a form of electronic monitoring requiring prior notice, the court disagreed. After reviewing the legislative history and unambiguous statutory language it found disclosure is only required where the monitoring takes place in a non-public area of the employer’s premises, and not when it occurs off site on public roads where employees have no reasonable expectation of privacy. This ruling does not affect union employers who must still bargain prior to any change in working conditions, including all forms of monitoring, as required by the National Labor Relations Act.