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Lenta.ru: Can Employers Monitor Their Employees?

2026-04-17 11:35
Work laptops and computers can become a tool for control. Is an employer entitled to track an employee’s actions on corporate devices? Selecty lawyers explain where the line of what is permissible lies and what steps to take if monitoring turns into an invasion of privacy.

Anait Vardanyan, lawyer at Selecty:
«Remote surveillance of an employee for the purpose of controlling the work process is unlawful from the perspective of labor law (Part 1, Article 312.1 of the Russian Labour Code). Therefore, employers face the question of how to supervise an employee who works remotely».
However, Russian legislation doesn’t establish a direct prohibition on tracking the work process through specialized office programs, Anait Vardanyan clarifies. At the same time, requirements for obtaining an employee’s consent to install such programs are also not set out in law. It is sufficient to provide for such a work regime in the contract or local normative acts.

Vladlena Suprunenko, lawyer at Selecty:
«An employer can indeed control an employee’s work regime and their diligent performance of their work function by installing special software that tracks actions on the work computer. However, such control is limited by certain conditions, as there is a risk of violating privacy rights».
For example, a ban on using a work computer for personal purposes can be established both in special policies and regulations dedicated to compliance with information security rules or preserving commercial secrets and in the employment contract itself in the employee’s contract. In any case, the employee must be made aware of the established rules.

Vladlena Suprunenko, lawyer at Selecty:
«Regarding programs and computer usage, the employer has the right to establish rules for the use of corporate resources and work equipment at the level of the company’s internal regulations and to monitor their compliance».
To identify violations of the rules, the employer can, to a limited extent, monitor the websites visited by the employee, messaging correspondence and also record the employee’s screen. Such control must be exercised within reasonable limits.

Anait Vardanyan, lawyer at Selecty:
«Judicial practice on the issue under consideration is ambiguous. Maintaining a balance between the interests of the employee and the employer in the matter of drawing the line between an employee’s right to privacy and an employer’s right to monitor the activities of a remote employee remains an open question».
Reading and retaining the entire body of an employee’s personal correspondence will be considered an excess of the permissible limits of monitoring. However, viewing for the limited purpose of establishing the fact of a violation appears to be a justified control measure. Thus, employer control over an employee's activities during working hours is permissible, but it must be lawful.

The most common way to restore violated employee rights, besides judicial dispute resolution, is to file a complaint with the State Labour Inspectorate. In the event of a dispute regarding unlawful or excessive collection of personal data, the complaint should be directed to the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media. And if there are systemic and gross violations, including pressure and threats to the employee, a statement must be filed with the prosecutor’s office.