Companies are trying to track everything and increase worker productivity. Some tracking is good (how much time do you spend on Facebook a day?), but other things should not be tracked (how much time do you spend in the loo each day?).
One Pennsylvania-based company had employees clock out each time they went to the restroom. They now owe their employees $1.75 million in back pay. One employer had the employees swipe a card when they went to the restroom, allotting 30 minutes a week for each employee. If employees used less than the allotted time, they were eligible for gift cards. They claimed invasion of privacy and have filed a lawsuit with the NLRB.
Finally, one company is required to pay out $2.2 million to two workers after testing feces for genetic information to identify a culprit. For some time, the Atlanta-based grocery chain had been finding poop in the store aisles and on the canned goods. Their approach: gather DNA information on all warehouse employees and match that to the samples they had taken to find the offender. The two workers who sued were innocent, and the company received a stiff reprimand.
Lesson learned: even in the age of TMI, some things remain private.
Sources:
Forbes: Poop case yields $2.2 million award, shows firms the peril of worker DNA tests
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