PETITION OF:

SECTION 1. Section 19D is added to Chapter 149 of the General Laws to read as follows:

Section 19D. Electronic monitoring; notice; access to records; privacy; due process; regulations.

(1) Definitions. As used in this section (a) “electronic monitoring” means the collection, storage, analysis and reporting of employees’ activities by means of computer, electronic observation and supervision, remote telephone surveillance, telephone call accounting and other forms of auditory and computer-based surveillance conducted by any transfer of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, data or intelligence of any nature transmitted in whole or in part by a wire, radio, electromagnetic, photoelectronic or phototooptical system;

(b) “employee” means a person currently employed or formerly employed by an employer;

(c) “employer” means each private and public sector employer of twenty-five employees or more in the Commonwealth including an individual, corporation, partnership, labor organization, unincorporated association or any other legal business, public or private, or commercial entity, the Commonwealth, counties, cities, towns and other political subdivisions therein, and any agents of the employer;

(d) “individual data” means any information concerning an employee which because of name, identifying number, mark or description can be readily associated with a particular individual and includes information contained in printouts, forms, or written analyses or evaluations; and

(e) “prospective employee” means an individual who has applied for a position of employment with an employer.

(2) Notice. (a) An employer shall provide an employee with prior written notice regarding electronic monitoring directly affecting the employee. The notice shall inform the employee of the types of monitoring the employer uses, what individual data is to be collected, a full description of how monitored information is used and the frequency of monitoring activity.

(b) An employer shall inform a prospective employee at any personal interview or meeting of existing forms of electronic monitoring which may directly affect the prospective employee if he or she is hired by the employer.

(c) If an employer engages in telephone service observation, the employer shall prominently place in each of its written advertisements and in each of its customer bills a statement that the employer is engaging in such observation.

(d) Notwithstanding the provisions in subparagraph (a) above, an employer who is engaged in electronic monitoring on the effective date of this section will have ninety days from said effective date to provide each affected employee with the above requirements.

(3) Privacy. (a) It shall be unlawful for an employer to collect individual data on an employee through electronic monitoring which is not relevant to the employee’s work performance.

(b) It shall be unlawful for an employer to maintain, collect, use or disseminate individual data obtained by electronic monitoring which describes how an employee exercises rights guaranteed by the First Amendment unless expressly authorized by statute or by the employee to whom the data relates or unless pertinent to and within the scope of an authorized law enforcement activity.

(4) Access to Records. (a) It shall be unlawful for an employer not to allow an employee, or the employee’s authorized agent, access to all individual data obtained by electronic monitoring of his work, as outlined in section 52C of this chapter.