I work in retail and make minimum wage (11.30) after 3 years of working here, recently the owner has added this facial recognition clock in system and its creepy as hell, there’s rumours going around saying that the owner can look through the camera and see exactly when a specific person clocks in. Just wondering if anyone else is creeped out by this or is it just me?

by mister1bollock

16 comments

  1. Put into [~~Data Protection Commission~~](https://www.dataprotection.ie/en/dpc-guidance/data-subject-access-requests-faq) *your employer* for a [Data Subject Access Request](https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/government-in-ireland/data-protection/rights-under-general-data-protection-regulation/#l78cd9) under GDPR: you have a right to know exactly what’s being done with your biometric information.

    I personally, from experience, wouldn’t trust a retail employer not to abuse something like this.

  2. What clock-in/time keeping system is was previously in place?

  3. Ask the company for the data protection impact assessment. If they don’t have one they likely aren’t adhering to gdpr.

    Or you could send a subject access request every week for the data logged every time you clocked in/out if you want to piss them off

  4. Of course the owner can look at the system and see when a specific person clocked in, that is the point of the system and is not an abuse of the system.

    If they were using cctv for that purpose then there could be an issue depending where the camera is and why it is there.

  5. I don’t think it’s that strange/creepy to automate clock-in clock-out times for an employee of a business?

  7. >there’s rumours going around saying that the owner can look through the camera and see exactly when a specific person clocks in

    Isn’t that the point of a clock-in system?

  8. One of the reasons why I’ve brought it up is because my wage hasn’t increased at all over the 3 years I’ve been her plus with inflation through the roof I’m really skint, it hasn’t bothered me before because I often show up late (10-15 minutes) or take a longer lunch than I should. But now they are going through extra measures to squeeze every last second out of us. I don’t know, it just seems a step too far for me.

  10. Put A4 print outs of each the employee faces in a folder next to the machine , ye can scan each other in and out.

  11. It’s always weird to me that the worst paid worst conditions-ed jobs are the ones most stupidly finicky about timekeeping. They just need to make it that tiny little bit more miserable, to keep you in your place.

  12. He probably caught someone clocking someone else in or out

  13. It’s also a health & safety thing to know who’s in / out of the building in case of emergencies. Also if you’re working & getting paid there’s no issue.

  14. A lot of those systems just record a basic outline of your face, that company does hand scanners that just record the shape and size of hand not finger prints, so no real gdpr issues

  15. Do you forget your past life and identity when you go through the door?

  16. Give your workmate a photo of your face and enjoy those extra hours.

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