QUESTION: My Department Head wants to implement GPS tracking on our work trucks. I’ve heard of employees elsewhere being written up for excessive idling or harsh right turns. This will dramatically affect my quality of life on the job. What can I do to stop it? I’m not going to work here if they’re targeting me like this. Other employees aren’t working in these same conditions.
You can’t stop your employer from installing GPS into their trucks, but your Association might be able to put some limits on how the data from the GPS is used. Briefly, most employers have the ‘management right’ to install equipment on their property (including work trucks). However, if you are in the middle of a contract, your Association has the right to meet and confer over the impact of the decision to install GPS’s (such as how the data from them will be used). For example, your Association might be able to negotiate a policy which says GPS data will not be used in disciplinary cases. Make sure you let the Board of your Association know about these changes and of your concerns.