body cam usage by management

[Ethel Street]

As you describe it body cams are just a form of PPE and in general an employer can insist PPE is in use throughout an employee's shift.  That requirement needs to be clearly stated somewhere though, so that you know you must not turn off your body cam.

 

Are you in a union? If so ask them for advice.

[Ethel Street]

8 hours ago, newmoses said:

She was called into the managers office and disciplined for smoking on duty, turning her bodycam off, and sitting down for 10 minutes.

 

TBH they seem like reasonable grounds for disciplinary action. Presumably she was in uniform at the time. and it wasn't an official rest break. I'm not legally qualified either but I think it is reasonable for the management to use bodycam evidence  in relation to misnduct allegations when on duty. Is there a rule in your contract/employee handbook that says you mustn't smoke on duty, or while in uniform in public, or something like that?

 

To be more accurate, they didn't use bodycam evidence to discipline her for smoking while on duty because she had turned her bodycam off while smoking! She presumably admitted she had been smoking while on duty when asked why the bodycam had been turned off. In which case that was the evidence used to discipline her, her own admission of smoking, not bodycam evidence.