Investors ask Home Depot to review surveillance vendor risks

A group of investors led by Zevin Asset Management filed a shareholder proposal asking Home Depot to review and report on the risks tied to its relationships with third-party surveillance vendors, specifically naming license-plate camera supplier Flock Safety and flagging how data-sharing could be used by law enforcement, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The filing, backed by 17 co-filers, requested "an assessment of privacy and civil rights risks, including discrimination or wrongful detention from misuse of customer data," as stated in the filing. The proposal said the review should include how data might be shared with local police and then passed to federal investigators, and it requested an analysis of financial, legal, and reputational exposure. The measure may be considered at Home Depot’s annual meeting in May.

Home Depot responded that it does not grant federal law enforcement access to its license-plate reader data and that it is not notified ahead of federal enforcement actions. The company also told investors it advises employees to report immigration raids to the company and gives workers the option to go home with pay during such events.

The filing comes amid a pattern of enforcement actions near Home Depot locations and rising investor scrutiny of corporate surveillance, privacy, and civil-rights implications. Records indicate Flock Safety’s license-plate data has been used by ICE investigators after local police shared that information, raising concerns among investors and civil-rights advocates about how retailer-held data can be repurposed by law enforcement.

For store-level employees, the proposal ties an abstract boardroom issue to concrete workplace dynamics. Associates at the front counter, loss-prevention staff, and store managers who confront day-labor gatherings or immigration enforcement at store sites are most likely to be affected. If the company opts to respond publicly or adopt changes, those workers could see new guidance on how license-plate readers are managed, revised data-sharing protocols, updated incident-response procedures, and additional training on interacting with law enforcement and protecting customer and associate privacy.

Beyond operational changes, the investor push underscores potential legal and reputational cost if customer or vehicle data is misused. Corporate decisions on surveillance partnerships could alter how loss-prevention teams deploy technology and how managers report and escalate enforcement incidents.

What comes next is a shareholder review cycle and the possibility of a vote at the annual meeting in May. In the meantime, associates and managers should watch for possible policy updates from corporate that could affect store security tools, data handling duties, and day-to-day interactions with law enforcement.