SOME workers are doing it at Dunkin' Donuts, Hilton hotels, even at Marine Corps bases.

Employees at a growing number of businesses across the United States of America are starting and ending their days by pressing a hand or finger to a scanner, which logs the precise time of their arrival and departure, information that is automatically reflected in payroll records.

Manufacturers say these biometric scanners improve efficiency and streamline payroll operations. Employers -- big and small -- buy them with the dual goals of curtailing fraud and automating outdated record keeping systems that rely on paper time sheets.

The new systems, however, have raised complaints from some workers who see the efforts to track their movements as excessive or even 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 (America's Union Movement). "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. 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 on Tuesday (March 25) 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.

"Psychologically, I think it has had a huge impact on the work force here because it is demeaning and because it's a system based on mistrust," said Ricardo Hinkle, a landscape architect who designs city parks.

Photogpraph: Getty Images
Cover Photo: Getty Images
(Photograph used for illustrative purposes only)

1 | 2 |  

e-mail: Associated Press

Suggest a story idea! Write to us!