HF 1670

as introduced - 81st Legislature (1999 - 2000) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

  1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to employment; regulating electronic 
  1.3             monitoring of employees; providing criminal penalties; 
  1.4             proposing coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, 
  1.5             chapter 181. 
  1.6   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.7      Section 1.  [181.975] [DEFINITIONS.] 
  1.8      Subdivision 1.  [SCOPE.] For the purposes of section 
  1.9   181.976, the terms defined in this section have the meanings 
  1.10  given them. 
  1.11     Subd. 2.  [ELECTRONIC MONITORING.] "Electronic monitoring" 
  1.12  means the collection, storage, analysis, or reporting of 
  1.13  information about an employee's activities by means of computer, 
  1.14  electronic observation and supervision, remote telephone 
  1.15  surveillance, telephone call accounting, or other forms of 
  1.16  auditory or computer-based surveillance conducted by any 
  1.17  transfer of signs, signals, writing, images, sound, data, or 
  1.18  intelligence of any nature transmitted in whole or part by wire, 
  1.19  radio, electromagnetic, photoelectronic, or photo optical system.
  1.20     Subd. 3.  [EMPLOYEE.] "Employee" means a person who 
  1.21  currently performs or formerly performed services for hire in 
  1.22  the state of Minnesota. 
  1.23     Subd. 4.  [EMPLOYER.] "Employer" means any person, 
  1.24  corporation, partnership, association, or group of persons 
  1.25  having one or more employees in Minnesota. 
  2.1      Subd. 5.  [PERSONAL DATA.] "Personal data" means any 
  2.2   information concerning an employee that, because of name, 
  2.3   identifying number, mark, or description, can be readily 
  2.4   associated with a particular individual and includes information 
  2.5   contained in printouts, forms, or written analyses or 
  2.6   evaluations. 
  2.7      Sec. 2.  [181.976] [ELECTRONIC MONITORING OF EMPLOYEES.] 
  2.8      Subdivision 1.  [IN GENERAL.] An employer may not engage in 
  2.9   electronic monitoring without providing each employee with prior 
  2.10  written notice of the monitoring.  The employer must provide the 
  2.11  affected employee with a signal light, beeping tone, or some 
  2.12  other warning when conducting a monitoring session.  The 
  2.13  employer must also provide the customer with some type of verbal 
  2.14  notification that they are being listened to. 
  2.15     Subd. 2.  [TELEPHONE MONITORING.] An employer who engages 
  2.16  in telephone service monitoring may not maintain a record of any 
  2.17  information about a customer which was obtained through the 
  2.18  observation without the written consent of the customer. 
  2.19     Subd. 3.  [ACCESS TO DATA.] An employer must allow an 
  2.20  employee access to all personal data obtained by electronic 
  2.21  monitoring of the employee's work and all conclusions drawn from 
  2.22  the monitoring.  This data must be made available to the 
  2.23  employee within the next scheduled work shift.  This data must 
  2.24  be relevant to the work performance and can only be used to 
  2.25  educate, not discipline the employee. 
  2.26     Subd. 4.  [PRIVATE CONVERSATIONS.] Under no circumstances 
  2.27  should an employer be able to listen to the private 
  2.28  conversations of an employee without their knowledge and written 
  2.29  consent. 
  2.30     Subd. 5.  [PENALTY.] Any person who violates the provisions 
  2.31  of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor.  Second and 
  2.32  subsequent violations are gross misdemeanors.  The minimum fine 
  2.33  for violations of this section is $3,000.  If the violation was 
  2.34  found to be willful then the fine shall, at a minimum, be double 
  2.35  the minimum fine.