Contact Tracing Apps Can Trigger Workplace, Privacy Concerns | McDermott Skip to main content

Contact Tracing Apps Can Trigger Workplace, Privacy Concerns

Contact Tracing Apps Can Trigger Workplace, Privacy Concerns

Overview


Employers are evaluating strategies that will allow their employees to return to work while protecting against a COVID-19 resurgence. Among those is the use of technologies that track the movement of individuals to limit the spread of the virus, such as contact tracing applications. Contact tracing applications are smartphone-based applications that, by tracking the proximity of users to each other, are able to notify users of potential exposure to other users who have self-reported as testing positive for COVID-19. In this article, partner Mark Brossman and former Schulte lawyers Edward Sadtler, John Garces and Ryan Knox discuss key considerations for employers when using COVID-19 contact tracing applications in the workplace, including existing and forthcoming regulation and privacy protections for their employees.