Wearable technology such as AI-assisted sunglasses has come a long way since Maxwell Smart’s boot phone! It has, or may soon have, the capability for:
- visual and audio recording,
- facial recognition,
- identifying web-based information about the facially recognised person in real time,
- language translation,
and much, much, more.
On the other hand, wearable technology may also have many positive accessibility uses such as vision or hearing assistance and cognitive task prompting. Wearable technology is already in use in some industries such as warehousing.
Wearable technology is here and employers need to find a way to manage it.
Are wearable technologies regulated?
Australian law is a patchwork quilt of regulation, including:
- Anti-surveillance laws,
- Privacy laws,
- Work, health and safety laws
- Anti-discrimination laws,
with no overarching legislation for wearable technologies.
What are some of the workplace risks of wearable technology?
Some of the risks are obvious:
- Surreptitious recording by employees of their interactions with colleagues.
- Surreptitious recording of confidential information and intellectual property.
- Privacy risks of recording of personal and private information (e.g. HR information) for which the data is hosted internationally.
Some risks are less obvious:
- Is a blanket prohibition on wearable technologies a lawful and reasonable instruction?
- Could a blanket prohibition on wearable technologies unlawfully discriminate against a person who is assisted by the technology?
- Is wearable technology a reasonable adjustment that an employer should consider offering an employee who will benefit from assistive technology?
- Are there potential psychosocial risks for colleagues of a worker who has been permitted to use assistive wearable technology that has the capacity to record their personal interactions at work?
In the coming weeks, our articles will explore how employers can start thinking about managing wearable technologies in their workplace.
At WorkLegal our experienced team can answer your questions and put you on the right track. A range of fixed-price Initial Consultations will suit most people’s needs in quickly learning what their options are.