Rights to privacy

We work for a major retailer and have just found out that "mystery" shoppers are being employed to come into the stores at regular intervals to check on us. We have been told that this is against the Human Rights Act 1998 and breaches our rights to privacy. We also feel that, since we did not agree to the change, we should not be bound by it.

Rights to privacy under the Human Rights Act 1998 are not unqualified rights. Your employer can impose limits on the scope of an employee's right to privacy.

An employer who "spies" on employees in the manner you describe will not be breaking the law, if the extent of the invasion of employees' privacy is measured and does not go beyond what would be needed to achieve a legitimate aim required by the employer.

In a recent case heard by the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT), the issue was whether a company could randomly stop and search employees to reduce incidents of theft. One employee complained, saying that he had not agreed to the policy and should not be bound by it.

The EAT held that the employer did have the right to implement the policy. It was not reasonable to require an employer to differentiate between employees based on their individual attitudes to the new policy. The new policy had been the subject of consultation and information and was agreed by the unions.

* More information: Trotter v Grattan EAT/0179/03