Employers Rework Smart-Glasses Policies Before October Harassment Liability
Updated
Updated · People Management Magazine · Aug 14
Employers Rework Smart-Glasses Policies Before October Harassment Liability
3 articles · Updated · People Management Magazine · Aug 14
Summary
UK employers are being urged to update workplace rules for smart glasses, whose discreet cameras and AI features make covert recording of meetings, screens, documents and HR discussions harder to detect than phone filming.
From October, businesses will also face liability for third-party harassment of staff unless they show reasonable preventive steps, increasing pressure on sectors such as retail, leisure and hospitality to address recording of employees.
UK GDPR adds another risk because filming colleagues, customers or confidential material can amount to personal-data processing, while tribunals may still admit secret recordings as evidence even if they breach workplace rules.
Employers are being advised to review disciplinary, confidentiality, IT, data-protection and social-media policies, set consent and recording limits, and warn that serious misuse could lead to dismissal.
Automatic bans may still be risky because smart glasses can support disabled workers with real-time captions, audio assistance and visual prompts, potentially making them a reasonable adjustment under the Equality Act 2010.