How Legal is Biometric Technology?
Biometric time clocks and employee clock-in software is changing the face of our workplaces. Who has not asked a coworker to clock in for them when they're running late? Most companies using the technology gain an additional level of security, what with today's political atmosphere, but how legal is it for a company to gather the biological information of an employee?The answer is: very!
The United States Federal Government allows it across the board, with only Texas, Illinois and Washington passing laws regulating its usage. The European Union has protections for workers who agree to using time clock software. Employees provide limited information, such as fingerprints or retina scans, and are protected from exploitation. Protected activities such as lunch breaks are still in effect under most laws, meaning an employer cannot use retinal tracking to determine if a worker is taking a smoking break.
Biometrics are even going a step further- soon, computers could be protected not by passwords, but by tracking software that identifies eye movement, finger swipes or brain patterns. Even a person's rear end can be identified- imagine your office chair throwing you out because you lost a few pounds! What about being penalized at the fingerprint time clocks for not swiping the same way? Having the hardware for fingerprint reader software is just the tip of the iceberg- the future is here, and it does not stop coming. Lucky for us, our legislation is keeping up.
by FingerTec USA
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