Fingerprint Scanners Help Companies Track Workers - 666?
NEW YORK (AP) ― Some workers are doing it at Dunkin' Donuts, at Hilton hotels, even at Marine Corps bases.
Employees at a growing number of businesses are starting and ending their days by pressing a hand or finger to a scanner that logs the precise time of their arrival and departure—information that is automatically reflected in payroll records.
Manufacturers say these biometric devices improve efficiency and streamline payroll operations. Employers big and small buy them with the dual goals of keeping workers honest and automating outdated record-keeping systems that rely on paper time sheets.
The new systems have raised complaints, however, from some workers who see the efforts to track their movements as excessive or creepy.
"They don't even have to hire someone to harass you anymore. The machine can do it for them," said Ed Ott, executive director of the New York City Central Labor Council of the AFL-CIO. "The palm print thing really grabs people as a step too far."
The International Biometric Group, a consulting firm, estimated that $635 million worth of these high-tech devices were sold last year, and projects that the industry will be worth more than $1 billion by 2011.
Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies, a leading manufacturer of hand scanners based in Campbell, Calif., said it has sold at least 150,000 of the devices to Dunkin' Donuts and McDonald's franchises, Hilton hotels and to Marine Corps bases, who use them to track civilian hours.
Protests over using palm scanners to log employee time have been especially loud in New York City, where officials are spending $410 million to install an automated attendance tracking system that may eventually be used by 160,000 city workers.
Scores of civil servants who are members of Local 375 of the Civil Service Technical Guild rallied Tuesday against a plan to add the city medical examiner's office to the list of 17 city agencies which already have the scanners in place.
The scanners have rankled draftsmen, planners and architects in the city's Parks Department, which began using them last year.
wcbstv.com - Fingerprint Scanners Help Companies Track Workers
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I hate having to fill out a form just to post a comment, but I have had to add that thing where you have to type in the letters that you see in the graphic to be able to post a comment, because I was getting nasty spam stuff. You can still choose anonymous.
If you have relevant links or resources, please put them in the comments and I will certainly check them out!