August 4, 2004, Introduced by Reps. Kolb, Spade, Meisner, Minore, Anderson, Jamnick, Bieda, Tobocman, Gillard, Vagnozzi, Accavitti and Farrah and referred to the Committee on Employment Relations, Training and Safety.
A bill to prohibit certain employers from monitoring
employee communications unless the employer establishes an
employee monitoring policy and discloses that policy to
employees; and to provide certain civil remedies.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
1 Sec. 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the
2 "employee communications monitoring act".
3 Sec. 2. As used in this act:
4 (a) "Employee" means an individual who as a volunteer or for
5 compensation provides an employer with his or her labor.
6 (b) "Employer" means a person who employs an individual for
7 compensation or who supervises an individual providing labor as a
8 volunteer.
9 (c) "Monitor" means listen to, read, or record a
10 communication between an employee and a person who is not the
1 employer.
2 Sec. 3. An employer shall not monitor the communications of
3 an employee unless the employer establishes a communication
4 monitoring policy that is in writing, is disclosed to each
5 employee subject to monitoring, and does all of the following:
6 (a) Specifies the methods of monitoring that the employer
7 will exercise.
8 (b) Specifies the communication media that will be subject to
9 monitoring.
10 (c) Specifies the type of communications subject to
11 monitoring.
12 (d) Identifies the frequency at which monitoring will occur.
13 (e) Provides the employee whose communications are monitored
14 with advance written notice of the monitoring.
15 Sec. 4. An employer shall comply with an employee
16 communication monitoring policy that the employer establishes
17 under this act.
18 Sec. 5. An employer who monitors an employee communication
19 in violation of this act is liable to that employee for actual
20 damages or $5,000.00, whichever is greater, plus reasonable
21 attorney fees.