A legal evaluation of monitoring and surveillance tools in telework from the perspective of personal data protection

This thesis examines the monitoring and surveillance tools used in teleworking relationships within the framework of personal data protection law. With the acceleration of digitalization, the widespread adoption of telework has led to significant transformations in employment relations, rendering the balance between employers' managerial authority and employees' personal data protection rights increasingly complex from both legal and technical perspectives. In this context, the first part of the study analyzes the historical development, definition, and legal framework of telework through a comparative evaluation of international, European Union, and Turkish regulations. The second part systematically examines physical, electronic, biometric, and AI-based monitoring methods employed in teleworking environments. The third part evaluates the legal consequences of personal data processing, the conditions of lawfulness, the obligations of data controllers, the rights of data subjects, and the necessary technical and administrative security measures. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, the study aims to establish a comprehensive legal framework that ensures a proportionate and balanced reconciliation between employers' managerial interests and employees' privacy and data protection rights.