Forget searches of employee workspaces and monitoring Internet activity; employee privacy just got a whole lot more personal.
Three Square Market, a Wisconsin-based employer that makes vending machine software, has become the first in the United States to offer to implant employees with microchips to allow them to unlock doors, access office equipment (including computers and printers), and pay for snacks from the on-premises vending machine.
For an individual willing to accept an implantation, the device — about the size of a grain of rice — would be inserted between the thumb and forefinger.
Importantly, the chips offered by the company do not use GPS technology to track employees’ movements. Doing so during non-work hours (which typically equates to “without a business reason”) would likely be considered an invasion of privacy.
However, employers considering such a chip should still be aware of lingering privacy concerns. If employees could use the chips during non-work hours, for example, the employer could potentially identify some of the employee’s movements based on the time and place of the scan.
Since such data could create a trail of an employee’s whereabouts, the chip could still contribute to privacy concerns even without GPS. The company offering the chips has noted that employees could potentially use the chips at compatible public vending machines (away from company grounds).
The Radio Frequency ID (RFID) microchips, which are increasingly found in credit cards, also present concerns about identity theft. If the chips include banking information or personally identifying information, that data is at risk of being hacked.
While the company has indicated that the chips would be encrypted, experts have noted that “encrypted” doesn’t necessarily mean “unhackable.”
The Wisconsin employer expected that more than half of its employees would accept the implants, which the employer would pay for. However, while the device is FDA approved and the manufacturer asserts that the chips are “biologically safe,” they come with no guarantees against infection or other complications.
Employees will likely consider this, but so should employers. Who’s liable if something goes awry with an implanted chip? Does workers’ comp apply? These are excellent questions — but ones for which we may not yet have answers. Technology has a way of outpacing legislation and case law.
The Wisconsin company offering these microchips believes that such technology will become more widely used as time goes on, but some see this as part of a concerning trend.
Spurred by this company’s offering, Rep. Tina Davis from Pennsylvania has introduced a bill in the House of Representatives. Her legislation would prevent employers from requiring employees to accept a chip implant. Employers would also be prohibited from retaliating against employees who refused.
Some states, including Wisconsin, already prohibit employers from requiring employees to receive these types of implants.
Microchipping employees certainly hasn’t reached trend-level status, but this employer’s first-of-its-kind offering gives everyone — employees and employers alike — something to think about.
Even if the country isn’t quite ready for microchipping to take hold, employees everywhere have long had to adapt to change brought on by technology.
Whatever the next big thing turns out to be, employers can be prepared by staying abreast of developments like these. Just as importantly, they can think through their most likely responses to employees’ privacy and security concerns well before implementing new technology.
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