Suzie Cheikho, an 18-year consultant for an insurance company IAG in Australia, was fired after management analyzed data from laptop keyboards.
Suzie Cheikho worked remotely before being fired. She must meet a number of requirements such as completing documents on time, participating in online meetings and complying with regulations when working from home. In November 2022, she received a warning about the company’s performance and on February 20, she was fired.
The reason the company management gave for the dismissal of Cheikho was that she did not guarantee the performance and working hours. A month after being fired by his company, Cheikho filed a lawsuit with the Fair Work Commission (FWC), alleging that his former employer treated him unfairly.
FWC conducted an investigation based on her laptop keyboard activity, which was recorded by IAG between October and December 2022. The results showed that during this time, Cheikho did not attend some meetings and did not complete the assigned tasks.
Statistics show that Cheikho has 44 days of not working the required number of hours, working late for 47 days, leaving early for 29 days and not working for four days. Even on days when she is logged in, her typing frequency is low, 117 hours of non-keying in October, 143 hours in November and 60 hours in December of 2022. This is the same period of time. she received a performance warning from the company.
Cheikho objected to the results of the keyboard tracking, and said he never stopped working even though the progress was sometimes a bit slow. As for her absences, she explained that sometimes she goes to the shops, but not all day. Cheikho said she also doesn’t know why her working hours are so low. She said her mental health declined because she had to go through many personal problems and this affected her work efficiency.
Cheikho confirmed that he sent the appointment with the doctor to the manager, and committed to make up the time.
In addition, she believes that the laptop keyboard survey results are inaccurate because every time the computer has a “system problem”, she logs in with another device.
However, Suzie Cheikho’s explanation was not convincing enough, so her lawsuit was rejected by the FWC.
Currently, many businesses use software to monitor employees closely. A survey by Digital.com conducted in September 2021 with 1,250 businesses in the US showed that 60% of companies use tracking tools, mainly to monitor web surfing and mobile applications. After operating the software, nearly 90% have fired employees.
Technologies that track employees by recording keystrokes, screenshots, mouse movements, webcam and microphone activation, etc. However, cybercriminals are also taking advantage of tracking tools. keyboard to steal user data.