Workplace Monitoring in Europe:  A Review of Regulatory Perspectives and Developments

Tomasz Mirosławski

doi:10.21697/2025.14.2.04

Published: 2026-02-23

Vol. 14 No. 2 (2025)

Workplace Monitoring in Europe: A Review of Regulatory Perspectives and Developments

Tomasz Mirosławski

Polish Review of International and European Law

Section: Articles

https://doi.org/10.21697/2025.14.2.04

Abstract

The main focus of the article is to examine the evolution of European regulations covering workplace monitoring, focusing on the Council of Europe and European Union frameworks. It analyses how concepts of human rights, understanding of privacy and data protection standards, particularly the ECHR, CFREU, Convention 108+ and GDPR, shape national approaches to the issue of employee surveillance. Emphasis is placed on proportionality, transparency and human dignity as core principles guiding social partners in defining employee privacy in the modern surveillance age. The study highlights that the effectiveness of a current framework depends on coherent national implementation, adaptability to digitalisation and active social dialogues addressing emerging monitoring technologies within workplaces.

Keywords:

workplace monitoring, employee privacy, European Union Law, Council of Europe, data protection

Download files

PDF

Citation rules

Mirosławski, T. (2026). Workplace Monitoring in Europe: A Review of Regulatory Perspectives and Developments. Polish Review of International and European Law, 14(2). https://doi.org/10.21697/2025.14.2.04

Cited by / Share

Licence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

References

Barański, Michał. “Ochrona danych osobowych pracowników w orzecznictwie Trybunału Konstytucyjnego oraz Trybunału Sprawiedliwości.” Państwo i Prawo 1/2022 (2022): 46-65.
Google Scholar

Barański, Michał. “Ukryty monitoring w miejscu pracy.” Monitor Prawa Pracy, no. 3 (2020): 26-32.
Google Scholar

Cate, Fred H. Privacy in the Information Age. The Brookings Institution, 1997.
Google Scholar

European Committee of Social Rights. Activity Report 2012. Council of Europe, 2013.
Google Scholar

European Committee of Social Rights. Activity Report 2016. Council of Europe, 2017.
Google Scholar

European Social Partners, Framework Agreement on Digitalisation, 2020.
Google Scholar

Fabbrini, Federico. “The European Multilevel System for the Protection of Fundamental Rights: A ‘Neo-Federalist’ Perspective.” Jean Monnet Working Paper 15/10 (2010): 7-60.
Google Scholar

Hendrickx, Frank. “Privacy 4.0 at Work: Regulating Employment, Technology and Automation.” Comparative Labor Law & Policy Journal 41, iss. 1 (2019): 147-172.
Google Scholar

Hendrickx, Frank. “Privacy@work: A Systemic Introduction.” In Privacy@work – A European and Comparative Perspective, edited by Frank Hendrickx, David Mangan, Elena Gramano. Kluwer Law International, 2023.
Google Scholar

Hijmans, Hielke. “Data Protection and Surveillance: The Perspective of EU Law.” In Surveillance and Privacy in the Digital Age: European, Transatlantic and Global Perspectives, edited by Valsamis Mitsilegas and Niovi Vavoula. Hart, 2021.
Google Scholar

Kokott, Juliane and Sobotta, Christoph. “The distinction between privacy and data protection in the jurisprudence of the CJEU and the ECtHR.” International Data Privacy Law 3, no. 4 (2013): 222-228.
Google Scholar

Koltay, András. “Social Media and Freedom of Speech in Employment: Limitations on Employees’ Right to Self Expression.” In Decent Work in the Digital Age: European and Comparative Perspectives, edited by Tamás Gyulavári and Emanuel Menegatti. Hart, 2022.
Google Scholar

Lafferty, Michelle. “Article 8: The Right to Respect for Private and Family Life, Home and Correspondence.” In Harris, O’Boyle & Warbrick: Law of the European Convention on Human Rights, edited by David Harris, Michael O’Boyle, Ed Bates, and Carla Buckley. Oxford University Press, 2014.
Google Scholar

Lock, Tobias. “Commentary on Article 8 CFR.” In Commentary on the EU Treaties and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, edited by Manuel Kellerbauer, Marcus Klamert and Jonathan Tomkin. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019.
Google Scholar

Lukács, Adrienn. Employees’ Right to Privacy and Right to Data Protection on Social Network Sites with Special Regard to France and Hungary. Iurisperitus Publishers, 2021.
Google Scholar

Otto, Marta. The Right to Privacy in Employment – A Comparative Analysis. Hart Publishing, 2016.
Google Scholar

Rustad, Michael. L., and Paulsson, Sandra. R., “Monitoring Employee E-Mail and Internet Usage: Avoiding the Omniscient Electronic Sweatshop: Insights from Europe.” University of Pennsylvania Journal of Business Law 7, iss. 4 (2005): 829–904
Google Scholar

Simitis, Spiros. “From the General Rules on Data Protection to a Specific Regulation of the Use of Employee Data: Policies and Constraints of the European Union.” Comparative Labor Law and Policy Journal, vol. 19, no. 3 (1998): 351-371.
Google Scholar

Štefko, Martin. “Privacy at Work in the Czech Republic.” In Privacy@work – A European and Comparative Perspective, edited by Frank Hendrickx, David Mangan, Elena Gramano. Kluwer Law International, 2023.
Google Scholar

Štefko, Martin. “Social Media in the Workplace (Bărbulescu v. Romania, ECHR, 61496/08).” In Labour Law and Social Rights in Europe: The Jurisprudence of International Courts – Selected Judgements, edited by Stefano Bellomo, Nicola Gundt, Maciej Łaga, and José M. M. Boto. Gdańsk University Press, 2018.
Google Scholar

Štefko, Martin. “Social Media in the Workplace in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia.” The Lawyer Quarterly, vol. 6, no. 1 (2016): 11-17.
Google Scholar