On February 19th, a British Columbia labour arbitrator dismissed a union request for an interim order to restrict an employer from using vehicle telematics to monitor the use of its maintenance fleet.
The employer allowed employees to drive its vehicles home but prohibited personal use. One of its reasons for implementing a telematics program was to support this rule.
Arbitrator John Steeves suggested that the employer’s collection of vehicle use information (trip start, trip end, distance driven, idle time, stop time between trips, gas consumption, speed) was reasonable for the purpose of managing the employment relationship. He also suggested that such information was less sensitive that location information, which the employer did not collect.
This is just an interim award and the reasoning is qualified, so it is not particularly authoritative. However, it is consistent with the relatively permissive existing jurisprudence on fleet monitoring by employers.
Otis Canada Inc. v. International Union of Elevator Constructors, Local 82 (Telematics Devices Grievance), [2010] B.C.C.A.A.A. No. 28 (QL) (Steeves).
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