Payout for NZ employee who refused facial scans

A NEW Zealand electrician fired for refusing to use a facial scanning system to sign in at work has won compensation of more than NZ$23,000 (£11,800).

Tim Fensom worked for eight months as an electrician for KME Services NZ, a contractor on a building project in Christchurch, before being fired in October 2018 for what the company called “serious misconduct”.

Mr Fensom had twice refused to clock in using a facial scan, raising concerns about how his data would be stored and used.

This week the Employment Relations Authority ordered KME to pay him the compensation for “unjustified dismissal, hurt and humiliation”. Stilgherrian, the veteran cybersecurity writer, told The Daily Telegraph the case was one of “many instances where employers are going beyond what is acceptable in terms of monitoring employees”. He added: “This is a case

‘This is a case where they just want to see whether an employee has turned up’

where they just want to see whether their employee has turned up – you don’t need facial recognition and recording biometrics to do that.”

In September 2018 KME sent a memo to employees at the building site advising them that the paper sign-in system was being replaced by biometric data and facial scanning technology.

The system, called Timecloud, was to be rolled out within a fortnight, but was delayed for several weeks while the company fielded questions from staff about why management believed it was necessary.

Scott Ludlam, digital privacy advocate and writer, told The Telegraph that Mr Fensom had taken an important stand.

“Good on him for sticking up for himself and accidentally becoming a precedent case. Not everyone would have the courage to do that.

“Hopefully the payout serves as a warning – facial recognition systems are enormously erosive of privacy and the potential for abuse is almost unbounded,” he said.