Control of workers during smart working

Abstract

In the paper we highlight the multitude of controls that employers can implement against workers who carry out their teleworking tasks, through "indirect" methods made available by new technologies. As we know, the italian Statuto dei Lavoratori regulates the ways in which the employer can control its employee, imposing a series of limits, for example, in the installation of cameras, in the methods of detection of presence, in the control of navigation by internet and email. The COVID-19 emergency has suddenly and unprecedentedly increased the number of teleworkers and then the forms of monitoring over the workers have necessarily changed compared to those applied within the company headquarters. Thanks to new technologies, it is now possible to use extremely sophisticated remote monitoring systems towards workers. For the protection of dignity, privacy and freedom of communication, it is necessary to update the forms of protection and information of the workers. The article will illustrate how it is possible to control the teleworker through session control, email and how using the company's computers and smartphones makes it possible for the employer to monitor each activity that has taken place, also during non-working hours, in these devices.