I just found out that my boss has followed me to the bathroom and a co-worker has experienced the boss entering the men’s room and/or waiting outside until he came back out. Is this okay?
Posted 06-12-2013
Steve Duggan replies:
While I don’t recommend it as an employment practice, there is nothing illegal about an employer investigating an employee’s time away from work if they are being paid for such time, including following them to see if they are really going to the bathroom or how long they stay in there. (Watching someone actually going to the bathroom–peeking into a stall, or even at a urinal– would be a violation of that individual’s right to privacy though and perhaps discriminatory or harassment.) Such a practice, of course, screams of a lack of trust, and is certainly not good for morale or long term productivity.
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