Would you take a job that requires a microchip inside your body?
Jul 26, 2017, 4:50 AM
(AP Photo/James Brooks, File)
PHOENIX — Would you accept a job that requires you to get a microchip implanted in your body?
That’s what a Wisconsin company is offering on a volunteer basis for all of its employees starting in August.
“Well, personally I thought it was a bit creepy,” said KTAR News Legal Expert Monica Lindstrom. “But then you can see the utility behind it.”
The tiny chips implanted between thumb and forefinger could be useful as employees just wave their hand to get in and out of secure doors, log in to computers, pay for stuff and more.
“But it’s a slippery slope,” she said. “Once you have those things, what’s going to come next is your ID going to be on there, is your social security number or employer ID going to be on there?”
What about privacy? Can the microchip be hacked? Can it be tracked?
What may sound like an innovative idea could actually end up costing the employer a lot of money and time.
“Because there would likely be a lawsuit should someone get sick from the implant,” she said. “Or if information gets out about the employee that was unintended.”
But an employer would not be able to really mandate something like this, Lindstrom said, so likely they would have to get employees to contractually agree to it.
“Right now, could an employer tell an employee ‘you will not be hired unless you do this?’ Quite possibly,” she said. “Think of Arizona.”
Arizona is a right to fire (or hire) state, she said.
“If an employee comes in and submits an application, the employer could give them this option and if they say no, there’s nothing that would require the employer to hire them.”
As long as it’s not based on one of the discriminatory categories like race, age, sex, or religion for example, Lindstrom said.
Moving forward there will likely be more companies trying to get ahead with technology by micro-chipping employees. But if unintended safety or privacy concerns surface, the legislature could respond.
“In the future there could be a law that says you cannot microchip employees,” she said. “But as of right now, it’s not against the law, probably because no one has really thought about it past pets.”