France: Monitoring employees’ working time : employers must use other means than geolocalisation

Geolocation systems are considered intrusive and dangerous for individual liberties. Their use is therefore strictly regulated, especially when the system allows the employer to control working hours. The Conseil d’Etat has found that an employer’s use of a geolocation system to monitor the its employees working hours is not valid when this monitoring can be  achieved by another means, even if it is less effective.

The Court of Cassation has reminded that employers must inform and consult the staff representation bodies before implementing such a device and must provide employees with a certain amount of information (purpose, the  recipient of data collected …)