Contact Tracing Apps Can Trigger Workplace, Privacy Concerns

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.