On Wednesday, September 23, 2020, Rothwell Figg attorneys Martin Zoltick, Jenny Colgate, and Caitlin Wilmot presented a Lexology webinar titled “Employee privacy and security considerations in the age of COVID-19”.

To view the recording of the webinar, please click here. To request the slides from the webinar, please send an email to RFPrivacy@rfem.com

The world changed dramatically in early 2020 as COVID-19 forced companies worldwide to change their practices and policies seemingly overnight. Some employees began working from home as companies scrambled to accommodate them; others began working on staggered schedules or with a reduced workforce as companies implemented safety measures to minimize risk for both employees and customers. In some cases, companies began furloughing or laying off employees.

In this webinar, attorneys from Rothwell Figg discuss the important privacy, data protection, and cybersecurity considerations that employers need to evaluate in any of these uncharted situations. The webinar covers:

  • employees working from home (eg, technologies that may track employees, the use of videoconferencing tools and the pitfalls of home networks);
  • corporate policies and practices that ensure network security (eg, multifactor authentication, the use of secure platforms for conducting all employment-related work, acceptable use and remote access and network monitoring for suspicious activity);
  • entering into new contracts with software or other vendors, particularly when in a rushed situation;
  • legal and regulatory compliance issues when employees are working in alternative set-ups and when employers are sidetracked (eg, California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) enforcement began on 1 July 2020);
  • employees having less direct oversight;
  • companies implementing back-to-work measures (eg, temperature checks and symptom, travel and exposure questionnaires);
  • companies considering surveillance measures (eg, physical surveillance, electronic surveillance and geolocation tracking);
  • data protection and trade secret issues associated with furloughed and laid-off workers; and
  • legislative efforts to create COVID-19-related privacy bills.