First published on Thursday, May 8, 2025
Last updated on Friday, May 9, 2025
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Employee time tracking methods are used by managers and business owners for a few reasons.
To track and manage absence and lateness
To mitigate time theft in the workplace
To record employee working hours
To ensure compliance with the National Employment Standards
However, while undertaking time tracking and monitoring, have you ensured that what you are doing is legal?
In this guide we cover any implications the law may have on employee time tracking and monitoring methods. All of which in some way, shape or form, allow you to track, monitor and generate records and reports of employee working hours and clocking in times.
At BrightHR we offer a modern solution with our clocking in app, fondly known as Blip! This modern solution allows you to track employee clock in and out times from anywhere at any time. Giving your employees the freedom and flexibility to clock in using a mobile device.
Methods of time tracking
There are several ways you can track the working hours of your employees. From physical clock in and out cards, to digital clocking in systems, including handy apps for your remote workers.
Is monitoring your employees legal?
Employee time tracking is a form of employee monitoring, which crosses over with methods such as surveillance and recording. It’s important to understand your legal responsibilities before implementing any type of employee monitoring in your workplace.
Employee time tracking and monitoring is legal in Australia, when done correctly. Common practices of employee tracking can be seen across hundreds of sectors.
However, to ensure that your business is monitoring your staff legitimately, you should consider the following:
The reasons for monitoring your employees
Do you have a legitimate reason for monitoring?
Are all employees being monitored in the same way?
When, where and how are employees being monitored?
Informing your employees about their monitoring, for example, writing a company policy
Compliance with the Privacy Act 1988
Storing employee data
While there’s not necessarily a specific law regarding ‘watching’ or ‘tracking’ your employees, there are data protection laws in place that you certainly must abide by.
By tracking any sort of employee movement or time, you will be logging data about individuals. Which must be stored and used correctly. While the Privacy Act 1988 in Australia does not explicitly cover workplace surveillance, its underlying principles of transparency, fairness, and relevance to the business need apply to all personal information collection, including employee monitoring. Employers must be transparent about monitoring, have a legitimate business reason for it, and ensure data security, as outlined in the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).
When employee monitoring and tracking goes beyond what is reasonable, such as surveillance in private areas, this can quickly become unlawful and a breach of the Privacy Act 1988.
NSW Case Study
Krav Maga Defence Institute Pty Ltd t/a KMDI v Saar Markovitch was a case that considered the use of covert surveillance in the workplace.
In New South Wales, the Workplace Surveillance Act 2005 requires that an employee be given at least 14 days’ notice prior to workplace surveillance commencing and, in the case of camera surveillance, there must be signs notifying employees that they may be under surveillance and these signs must be clearly visible.
In this case, however, surveillance cameras were installed at a gym with no prior notification and no signage. An employee at the gym was observed acting in a way that his employer created a reasonable basis for his termination. The dismissed employee applied to the Fair Work Commission on the basis that his dismissal was predicated on information gathered through unlawful surveillance.
When the case was first heard, the CCTV footage was excluded because it was recorded in breach of the requirement that employees be given proper notice. On appeal, the Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission held that, even if the employer’s CCTV footage had been illegally or improperly obtained, the Commissioner had erred in automatically excluding such evidence. The Full Bench stated that the proper approach to be applied in considering whether or not illegally or improperly obtained surveillance should be admitted as evidence requires the consideration of the factors in the Evidence Act 1995 (NSW), including the probative value of the surveillance and its importance to the case.
This case illustrates that, although employers in NSW are required to give notice of surveillance, employees should be aware that their conduct can still endanger their employment if it is captured by undeclared covert surveillance.
Keeping your employees informed
Any type of monitoring or tracking you choose to implement in your workplace must be carefully documented within policies and employment handbooks or contracts. For guidance on how to write a workplace policy, refer to the advice of an HR and employment relations expert.
Need to write a policy quickly, but don’t know where to start? BrightBase, BrightHR’s document library, has expertly written policy templates for you to use and follow as a guide. Offering a simple solution for writing HR policies with ease.
Stay compliant and opt to track employee time with a modern solution
With BrightHR not only do you get access to a simple, modern solution for time tracking, thanks to Blip, our HR advice team will also provide you the support you need to ensure your practices are In line with current legislation.
Concerned about staying on the right side of the law? Not to worry, our team of experts are on hand to provide 24/7 expert advice. Plus, all our digital tools and features are designed with safety and security in mind. So, you can rest easy knowing personal employee data is safe when using our award-winning HR software.
Book a free demo today to discover our clocking in app and so much more.
