I have concerns that employees may be abusing our Sick Leave Policy. I would like to engage a Private investigator to check their whereabouts when they call in for sick days. How do I handle it?

Jennifer writes:

Engaging a Private investigator to carry out covert surveillance on an employee should not be undertaken lightly by an employer as it raises issues under data protection and employment law.

1. Data Protection

The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (the “ODPC”) has held that a decision by a data controller (i.e. an employer) to engage the services of a private investigator to gather personal data surreptitiously about a data subject (i.e. an employee) carries very serious risk of breaching the provisions