When it comes to monitoring, GPS Tracking Employees Laws is a tricky factor in the industries.

However, the question is: How to keep up with the fleet tracking legal boundaries?

GPS fleet tracking and the transportation industry are bonding strongly over the last years and their relationship is becoming unbreakable.

In fact, the trucking industry is starting to depend on technology and its creation of vehicle GPS trackers.

Why is that?

The reason for the increased usage of fleet tracking in transportation is due to the significant benefits business

From a technological aspect, the digital age is making possible to track every aspect of the businesses, including employee’s life – from their messages to driver’s location.

Regarding the advantages of monitoring, there are many legitimate reasons and Gps Tracking Employees laws.

Ultimately, fleet tracking leads to improved customer service and compliance with speed limits laws like SAFER, FMCSA or NHTSA.

With regards to this matter, I am going to discuss the steps to take in order to keep up with the legal boundaries when checking on employees.

Are Employers Respecting the GPS Tracking Employees Laws

Before you put a monitoring system at your company, it is crucial to prove that you have a legitimate reason for using it.

Whatever the reason is, it should be strong enough not to break the Gps Tracking employees laws.

If you do not know the benefits of using GPS tracking features then you need to know that some of the advantages are the following:

GPS Tracking Prevents Vehicle Theft

Many transportation companies are involved in over the road trucking and consequently, their drivers are parking the trucks at different truck stops.

Sometimes, it is not safe for the fleet because it is exposed to vehicle theft. By implementing GPS tracking employees laws you are preventing theft of your fleet.

Fleet Tracking Increases Productivity

Besides massively contributing to the above-mentioned parts of a trucking business, GPS devices also beneficial for other factors covering the trucking industry.

In addition to this, the GPS employees laws also refer to the following advantages affecting yours and other transportation businesses in general:

• Improving response time
• Lowering Insurance Costs
• Increasing efficiency of travel routes
• Ability to locate employees quickly
• Improving customer service

Applicable GPS Tracking Employees Laws

Likewise, there are other aspects of employees laws which apply to the federal, state as well as local laws. All of the laws apply to the privacy of the workplace.

In addition, there are key federal laws to comply with. As such are the following:

• Stored Communications Act – applying to stored communications
• Electronic Communication Privacy Act – applying to intercepting electronic communications in transit.

According to these laws, you are not allowed to look at another person’s private communications like email messages.

However, there is an exception that probably many are unfamiliar with.

Generally speaking, these GPS tracking employees laws allow companies to monitor the systems for business purposes.

For instance, a case in the Supreme Court states that a police officer’s privacy was offended. Namely, the officer sent the message to another employer-owned pager.

However, his policy states that the department has the right to monitor the communications on the equipment.

State Laws Influence

Regarding the GPS tracker, there are different employees laws varying from state to state.

For instance, there are states which allow companies to monitor the company-owned vehicles, mobile phones and other devices.

This approach is due to prevent theft and increase safety instead.

By the same token, if a company wants to track the private vehicles or devices of employees, they need to obtain the employee’s permission first.

Companies that consider implementing employee GPS tracking system need to provide advance notice policy to employees.

The notice allows companies determine the legal issues of high probability to arise.

Furthermore, it gives enough time to companies to answer the questions to employees which makes the laws relevant.

For instance, the criminal statute of Illinois forbids electronic device tracking of a person’s location unless it is done by law.

These laws also apply to other states including California, Connecticut, Delaware and Texas as well.

However, their GPS tracking employees laws can vary.

If you have doubts on this matter, you can talk to an employment attorney to ensure the rules to follow.

Commonsense Principles

In addition, there are the further questions that seek an answer to the employee’s privacy at the workplace.

To illustrate, “Does an employee have a legitimate expectation of privacy?”

If the vehicle or device belongs to the company, you have the right to use fleet management software.

According to the laws, a company has the right to track its property and equipment but it needs to have a policy.

But if the company is monitoring employees off the clock and their private equipment, the laws strictly prohibit these actions.

GPS Tracking Employees Laws in the United States

As shown above, all the states in the USA have their own GPS tracking employees laws.

The states in the USA have different rules, however, there is a majority of them approving GPS vehicle devices during business hours.

In addition, these laws state that if a company owns the vehicle they can track locations and movements.

This also includes the location of the vehicle operator or driver, or an employee using a company-owned vehicle

However, there are cases where employees feel affected by the GPS tracking employees laws.

Continually, tracking a vehicle that company does not own, or leasing it to another person, using a GPS tracker for business to track movements is illegal.

The Difference in GPS Tracking Employees Laws

Consequently, the fee varies from one state to another. For instance, in Texas, this kind of act is violating the law and is considered a misdemeanor.

On the other hand, if you act on inappropriate tracking in California, you can get 6 months in jail whereas the business will lose the license.

In other states, the illegal tracking is taken more seriously and considered a felony which can get you more than 6 months in jail.

According to GSA, DOT, and US Department of Justice, there are different fleet laws and regulations in states.

One of the most important differences in fleet management laws is the following:

• In California, if you want to track an employee, you need to inform him first.
• You must not track a person without his consent, you must inform him, in Connecticut.

On the other hand, in one case in New York, an employer was allowed to track the employee’s private vehicle. This is based on employee’s lying on the time sheets.

The GPS tracking employees laws in New Jersey are rather different.

Notably, you are allowed to use GPS tracking system as long as you are driving on public roads and you have no right to privacy expectations.

With the adoption of new technologies, the government is figuring out the laws. Every case is different from the other and what is legal in one state, it is considered a felony in another.

Compliance with DOT regulations

The USA Department of Transportation creates laws on interstate carriers tracking. For example, a fleet manager needs to provide the following:

• A list of detected violations during inspections
• State-supplied crash reports
• Violations reports identified by federal or state investigators

In addition, the Congress states that all fleet management solutions need to have EOBR – electronic onboard recording in vehicles.

However, all GPS devices need to be certified by the FMCSA and log a duty status record and send it to the concerned authorities.

These laws are created all due to the safety of the driver, the vehicle and the company as well.

This also includes the Hours of Service (HOS) which according to the law, drivers must not go beyond 14 hours of driving without a 10-hour break after shifts.

Likewise, drivers are not allowed to drive for more than 70 hours in the 8-day period.

All of the regulations can be tracked with a vehicle GPS tracker.

Consider Employees’ Interest in Privacy

Another thing to consider is the employer’s reason for tracking apart from the employee’s interest in privacy.

For example, if an employee has been found stealing a property of the company, then implementing a vehicle rollout in company-owned vehicles is reasonable.

In addition, it is the safest approach and more importantly, it is applicable to the GPS tracking employees laws.

In this way, an employee has no interest in privacy.

However, if an employee is not familiar with the monitoring procedure, then he will claim invasion of privacy.

However, the real question is the following: “If you faced a vehicle theft recently, is installing a GPS tracker for delivery trucks lawful?”

To emphasize, this act strictly depends on the state where your company is established and operates.

As an illustration, there are states which prohibit this, unless you provide warning or notice in advance.

Continually, there is an expectation of privacy in the non-public areas.

Therefore, it is important for you to do the following:

Install GPS in Vehicles

As shown above, the benefits of business GPS are insane. The device not only improves employee’s productivity but also creates an overall progress of the business.

On top of that, it creates way more efficient as well as fast fleet management.

If you want to get your business on a whole new and higher digital level then you definitely need GPS tracker.

Continually, as long as you comply with the GPS tracking employees laws you can use the fleet management software.

What is more important, you can improve your business without breaking any law of the United States.

Moreover, you can update customers on their cargo by knowing the location of it.

In this way, with the help of the GPS tracking employees laws, you can create a chain of efficiency and productivity at your business.

To emphasize, the US laws allow you to use the tracking software in a way where you meet your needs and legal rules at the same time.

Moreover, by knowing the location of a trucker, you can easily inform your customers about the due time of the cargo arrival.

In this way, with the help of the GPS tracking employees laws, you get informed about your rights and create a chain of efficiency and productivity at your business.

How GPS Tracking Helps Safety?

The number of companies using fleet trackers is getting bigger and bigger. In addition, by complying with the GPS tracking employees laws, they improve their business.

Furthermore, they learn more about the duties of the employees. What is more important, they learn about how long employees are on the field in order to ensure safety.

To continue with, the employers get information whether their employees are properly paid for their hours of service.

However, what employers must omit is tracking the staff off the clock and without their consent.

It is also important to limit the access of the recorded information.

As with so many other areas of employment law, a good policy is invaluable. Your policy should clearly and simply describe how and when communications and activities will be monitored.

It should clearly state that employees have no expectation of privacy on company equipment.
You should also include guidelines about what employees may and may not do. For example, can they make private calls?

If an employee could be disciplined based on information acquired from a monitored telephone call or GPS tracking, then you should include that in the policy, too.

I also recommend that you get your employees’ written consent to the policy to avoid misunderstandings in the future.

Finally, make sure your IT department and management know how to handle issues that may arise, so they will follow your policies.

Can Companies Monitor Employees off the Clock?

As shown above, there are yet states which allow monitoring on public roads legally. However, is it possible for businesses to continue monitoring vehicles while off the clock?

This has been considered for years and due to the differences in GPS tracking employees laws among states will continue to be overlooked.

However, one thing is for certain.

Businesses can use GPS fleet tracking features to monitor employees while off the clock as long as they have policies.

More importantly, they need to explain the employees the policy before they sign the contract.

As an illustration, if a company has a policy where the employees need to report the moving violations even on their personal vehicle, this is not considered a misdemeanor.

In this way, an employee needs to report these violations to their employer, otherwise, it could be a subject to discipline.

Continually, the policy also needs to have a written policy of a specific number of moving violations that will not lead to the employee’s job termination.

Additionally, if the company is doubtful about the words of the employee, the use of GPS vehicle tracking can save the situation.

Given these points, companies must review the GPS tracking employees laws before implementing smart tracking tool.

Ultimately, a business owner needs to be aware of the laws in order to start with the monitoring program.

The best way is to consult with an attorney in order to avoid misconceptions of the fleet management laws.

Conclusion

Before dealing with GPS tracking employees laws, you need to figure out what is the purpose of it and how it will affect your business.

More importantly, you need to find a good reason that will outweigh the GPS tracking employees laws.

Being observative with these laws is really important because it has a huge impact on your company and yourself, as an owner.

In the end, you need to be very careful on how you use the GPS tracking device because it may cost you a huge fee, losing your business, or in the worst case, it may cost you jail sentence.