Big Brother Watch Briefing on the Employment Rights Bill for Second Reading in

The Bill must be revised in the course of its passage through Parliament to protect workers from the harms arising from excessive high-tech worker surveillance; to protect workers’ privacy, dignity, health; and to uphold key rights to equality and non-discrimination. [...] The Bill was published on 11th October 2024 by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) as part of the Government’s plan to reform the labour market, developed from Labour’s pre-election pledge to “make work pay”.1 Despite specifically acknowledging the invasion of privacy brought about by surveillance technology, spyware, and discriminatory algorithmic decision making and committing to “ensure. [...] In anticipation of Second Reading in the House of Commons, we would like to draw your attention to the problems caused by excessive workplace surveillance to demonstrate the importance of safeguarding against it, and propose areas where action is needed in order to better protect workers’ privacy, health and fair treatment. [...] under UK GDPR, Big Brother Watch has found that there are gaps in the law and enforcement of existing laws that keep workers at risk of novel harms arising from unfair, intrusive and harmful surveillance – gaps that it is timely, appropriate and necessary for the Employment Rights Bill to address.13 8 IPPR, “Watching Me, Watching You: Worker Surveillance in the UK After the Pandemic”, March 2023,. [...] Amidst ongoing discourses around the dangers of AI and need to improve workers’ rights, the Employment Rights Bill is the perfect opportunity to address these concerns in order to protect workers, support employers, and benefit the economy.