New Jersey vehicle tracking at work: the written notice rule for GPS trackers in vehicles employees use

New Jersey requires employers to tell employees in writing before tracking a vehicle they use. The rule comes from chapter 449 of the Public Laws of 2021, approved on 18 January 2022 and codified at N.J.S.A. 34:6B-22 (P.L.2021, c.449). It is one of the few US laws aimed specifically at location tracking at work, and it is short. This page explains what the enacted text says.

The short answer: an employer who knowingly uses a tracking device in a vehicle used by an employee without giving the employee written notice faces a civil penalty of up to $1,000 for a first violation and up to $2,500 for each later one, collected by the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development (section 1(b)). The law requires notice, not consent, and it does not ban tracking.

What is covered

• Tracking device: "an electronic or mechanical device which is designed or intended to be used for the sole purpose of tracking the movement of a vehicle, person, or device." Devices used to document employee expense reimbursement are excluded (section 1(a)).
• Any vehicle the employee uses: the enacted text speaks of "a vehicle used by an employee" and does not distinguish between a company vehicle and the employee's own car (section 1(b)).
• Employer: includes the employer's agent, representative or designee. It excludes the Department of Corrections, the State Parole Board, county correctional facilities, any state or local government entity, and any public transportation system, including scheduled or charter bus transportation, whether publicly or privately operated (section 1(a)).
• Federal trucking rules: the act does not supersede interstate commerce regulations, including the use of electronic communications devices mandated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (section 1(c)).

What changed on the way

Earlier versions of the bill, Assembly Bill 3950, would have made some tracking without notice a crime of the fourth degree and covered both tracking devices and electronic communications devices such as phones and computers (A3950, second reprint). The enacted law contains no criminal offense, and its notice rule applies to tracking devices only. Because the definition is limited to devices built or intended solely for tracking, a phone or a multipurpose system that also records location may fall outside it; that is our reading of the text, not a court ruling.

What this means in practice

• Employers: before a GPS tracker goes into any vehicle an employee drives, give that employee written notice and keep a copy. The law asks for nothing more specific, but saying what is tracked, when and why makes the notice useful. Even where a device may fall outside the definition, notice is low cost.
• Workers: if a tracker was placed in a vehicle you use without written notice, the penalty is enforced by the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development. The law does not give you a right to refuse tracking.

For notice rules on email, phone and internet monitoring in New York, Delaware and Connecticut, see US employee monitoring laws. Colorado limits biometric data used to track where staff are; see Colorado biometric data at work.

This page covers New Jersey and is general information based on the chapter law published by the New Jersey Legislature when checked on 3 November 2026, not legal advice. Check for later amendments before relying on it.