A Remote Employee Refused 160 Webcam Photos a Day. Her Employer Fired Her

Across the workforce, employer surveillance is growing increasingly common, even though it is widely disliked by employees. According to the American Psychological Association, employee monitoring increases workers' stress and decreases their reported mental health. A Canadian study found that surveillance in the workplace makes employees feel more pressured, less satisfied with their job, and like their privacy is being violated. AI may now make this problem worse. These negative outcomes are the consequences of more traditional surveillance methods like keyboard tracking and email monitoring. Considering that, what would the psychological impact be of learning that an employer will now use AI to take 160 photos of an employee’s face every day? A recent New Jersey lawsuit alleges that an employer was trying to do just that, and fired its employee when she refused to agree to this monitoring.