I agree with you except for > There is a tacit understanding between employer and employee about this, so any steps by the employer to monitor daytime computer

I agree with you except for > There is a tacit understanding between employer and employee about this, so any steps by the employer to monitor daytime computer usage is understandably seen as breaching this understanding in a misguided attempt to get employees to work more hours - or exposing the employee to arbitrary punishment if management wants to selectively undermine them for breaking rules that everyone breaks. I think employee monitoring is a lot more common than you think. Especially so outside of tech but I know of some very big tech companies we're all intimately familiar with that record basically everything that happens on their employees computers. Do they actively monitor everyone to see that they're putting in 40 hours a week? Not really. Does HR take a looksie when a manager comes and asks for help firing an employee? What do you think?