Heat and motion sensors are showing up under Justice Department desks. Employees say it's 'creepy'

OTTAWA — The federal justice department has widened its use of heat and motion sensors installed under staff’s desks, raising further concerns from staff and a union that they could eventually be used to monitor office attendance even if their employer swears it won’t.

In a memo to impacted staff, Justice Canada officials said it was launching a new phase of a controversial project started in 2023 to gather data about office space utilization using heat and motion sensors.

The devices are installed under employees’ desks as well as in common workspaces. According to the memo, the sensors provide anonymous data about how a workspace is being used, but not who is using it.

Since 2023, the sensors have been deployed at various Justice Canada offices, with a spate of new workplaces being targeted in the third phase of the pilot project that began on Jan. 12.

The latest phase is expected to run until mid-March, at which point the sensors will be removed from the desks, Justice Canada spokesperson Ian McLeod said in an email.

The new phase began around the time the government announced it was upping the mandatory number of office days for almost all public servants from three to four beginning to July.

The timing raised concern among many Department of Justice (DOJ) employees that the sensors could eventually be used to track their compliance with the government’s return-to-office policy.

According to the memo and a Justice Canada spokesperson, they are used to track workplace use for planning purposes only, not for attendance.

“Sensors indicate when there is a person present, or when a workstation or room is empty. They do not include cameras or microphones, and they do not indicate ‘who’ is present,” reads the DoJ memo.

In a statement to National Post, McLeod insisted that “these devices are not used to track employee attendance. They do not record sound, images, or identities.”

“The pilot’s purpose is simply to help understand how office space is used so we can better plan and improve the workplace, including layouts, meeting rooms, quiet areas, and shared spaces for employees. Heat and motion together help ensure the information is accurate while remaining anonymous.”

But despite their employer’s assurances, many Justice Canada employees simply don’t believe it.

One of many DoJ employees who shared their concern about the project with National Post described the presence of the sensor under their desk as “creepy”. Two others noted that there are many other, less invasive tools that can be used to analyze the use of office space.

“(It) cannot be cheaper to install whatever this is than just have a manager walk around” and look for themselves, one staff member said.

In an email, the Association of Justice Counsel (AJC), the union representing federal government lawyers, confirmed that their impacted members have a lot of concerns about the sensors at their desks.

AJC spokesperson Sayward Montague told National Post that many government lawyers have assigned workspaces in order to respect requirements set by their professional order. That means using the sensors to monitor them “wouldn’t be an impossibility.”

“Questions about things like capacity of the sensors, any health risks associated with them, what is collected and how the data is used have been asked, but AJC members have indicated their questions have not been well-answered by the employer,” Montague wrote to National Post.

“To date, the department has not updated the AJC on this project — such as the usefulness of the data to date, how it is being used, and whether the project has changed any outcomes — aside from announcing its expansion.”

Montague also said that the sensors won’t help address AJC members’ real issues at the office, citing a lack of available workspaces, rodent or bug infestations and insufficient ventilation or heating during the winter months.

Veteran labour lawyer Marc Boudreau also doesn’t believe the data isn’t being used to track office attendance.

In an interview, he told National Post that he’s never heard of motion and heat sensor devices being installed under employees’ desks.

But he argued that it’s within an employer’s rights to track office usage and employee attendance, within certain limits.

“I don’t think it is (invasive), insofar as there is no recording, there is no filming and they’re just checking to see if there is someone sitting or not sitting and it’s at the office,” said Boudreau, owner of Quebec-based law firm CMB Avocats.

“But no one is going to make me believe that this is for office ergonomics,” he added.

National Post

cnardi@postmedia.com

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