COURT OF CASSATION: HIDDEN VIDEO SURVEILLANCE IS LAWFUL IF IT IS USED TO CONFIRM SUSPECTED THEFT BY AN EMPLOYEE
The Criminal Court of Cassation, Fifth Section, with judgment No. 28613 of 5 August 2025, confirmed the principle – already established by existing case-law – that "the employee's right to privacy yields to the need for protection against theft.”.
In accordance with this principle, the installation of video surveillance cameras that film employees in the workplace, even without notification and consent from trade unions and the competent Labor Inspectorate, is lawful if the purpose is to obtain confirmation of possible illegal activity against company assets by the worker, the existence of which the employer has valid suspicions about.
According to the Court's reasoning, such a purpose constitutes the distinction between the “unlawful” hidden video surveillance, which is prohibited by law (primarily by Article 4 of Law 300/1970, known as the Workers' Statute) as it constitutes remote monitoring of work activities and therefore a violation of privacy, and the “lawful” one, which is an exception to the general rule as it is justified by the protection of company assets, provided that it does not involve significant monitoring of the ordinary performance of work activities.
As a result, the video recordings thus obtained can be legitimately used as evidence of the crime in criminal proceedings.
