How much can your employer monitor you while you work from home?

Key rules

• Proportionality: Monitoring must have a legitimate aim, be necessary and be the least intrusive option.
• Prior information: Your employer must tell you clearly about each measure before it starts.
• Your home: Cameras in your home or watching you through your webcam are in practice not justified.
• Personal devices: Your employer cannot make you install intrusive tools on your own equipment.
• Dismissal claims: You have 20 working days to bring a dismissal-related claim.

What your employer is allowed to do

Your employer can monitor your work, but only in a way that is proportionate, transparent and respects your privacy and dignity. This applies to remote work too. Any measure must have a legitimate aim, be necessary, and be the least intrusive way to reach that aim.

You must also be told about each measure clearly and before it starts. The information should cover what is monitored, why, and your rights over your data: access, correction, limitation and deletion.

Cameras, webcams and sound

Your employer cannot put a camera in your home. Watching you through your webcam at home is, in practice, not justified, because your home is protected.

At a workplace, cameras are allowed for work control only with prior, clear information to you and your representatives. They are banned in rest areas, changing rooms and toilets. Sound recording is allowed only where there is a risk to the safety of facilities, goods or people.

Screen tracking and keystrokes

Continuous screen capture and keystroke logging are generally treated as disproportionate. Lighter measures, such as checking output or results, are much easier to justify. Monitoring that carries a high risk for workers needs a formal data protection impact assessment before it starts.

Location tracking

Geolocation devices are allowed only if you were clearly told they exist, how they work and what your rights are. Tracking outside your working hours is generally disproportionate.

Company devices and your own devices

On a laptop or phone supplied by your employer, you still have a right to privacy. Your employer may look at the content only to check you are doing your work and to protect the device. It must set rules of use with workers' representatives, say whether private use is allowed, and tell you.

Your personal devices cannot be inspected as if they were company ones. Remote access to them is justified only if you agreed, clear rules exist and the measure is proportionate. Your employer cannot require you to install intrusive tools on your own equipment. You do still have to follow reasonable security and data-protection instructions.

What to do if it goes too far

You have several routes, and you can use more than one:

• Raise it with your workers' representatives or your union.
• Complain to the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) through its online complaint form. It can investigate and fine unlawful data use.
• Report it to the Labour and Social Security Inspectorate (Inspección de Trabajo).
• Take a claim to the labour court (Juzgado de lo Social) for breach of fundamental rights. This follows an urgent procedure and can bring compensation.

A conciliation attempt before court is normally required. Claims about fundamental rights have a special regime. For dismissal-related claims you have 20 working days. Other claims generally have one year. Because the deadline depends on the type of claim, speak to a labour lawyer or union early.

The checklist below shows how to ask your employer for details and keep evidence.

Timeline and deadlines

• Try a mandatory conciliation attempt (SMAC or your regional equivalent) before going to court: before you file a court claim; fundamental-rights claims have a special regime

• File a dismissal-related claim in the labour court: within 20 working days

• File other claims in the labour court: generally within 1 year

Checklist

• Ask your employer in writing which monitoring measures it uses, why, and what rights you have over your data.

• Ask for the written rules on private use of company devices, drawn up with workers' representatives.

• Refuse to install intrusive tools on your personal devices unless you agreed and clear rules exist.

• Keep copies of messages, policies and screenshots that show the monitoring.

• Contact your workers' representatives or union if the monitoring goes too far.

What to watch out for

• Constant screen or webcam watching: Continuous screen capture, keystroke logging and webcam monitoring at home are generally treated as disproportionate, and cameras in your home are in practice unjustified. Ask your employer in writing to stop and complain to the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD).

• Tracking outside working hours: Geolocation outside working hours is generally disproportionate, and any tracking needs clear prior information to you. Ask what is tracked and when, and complain to the AEPD if it continues outside your hours.

• Waiting too long to claim: A court claim for a dismissal-related issue must be filed within 20 working days, and other claims generally within one year. Contact your union or a labour lawyer quickly, as a conciliation attempt is normally needed first.

Frequently asked questions

Can my employer put a camera in my home or watch me through my webcam?

No, a camera in your home is in practice not justified, because your home is protected.

Can my employer track my location while I work from home?

Yes, but only with geolocation devices you were clearly told about beforehand, including what they do and your rights to access, correct, limit and erase the data.

Where can I complain about excessive monitoring?

You can complain to the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) online, report to the Labour Inspectorate, or raise it with your workers' representatives or union. You can also go to the labour court for a breach of fundamental rights, which follows an urgent procedure and may give compensation.