Dec
21st
Fri
21st
You know that little thingamabob you have to use every day to get into the office? It might be able to do a whole lot more than just clear building security and magically unlock a door. It might just get you fired. It’s becoming increasingly common for smart cards, fobs and other work-issued devices to be embedded with Global Positioning System chips, radio frequency identification and other technologies that allow employers to track every movement of their employees—both at work and away from it. So if you’re an employee who attends an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting during the privacy of your lunch hour or visits an HIV/ AIDS clinic after work, your boss might be following you there through company-issued cell phones, cars, keycards and other devices. New, cheaper and more accessible technologies are making it easier than ever for employers to monitor what their workers do, where they go, what they eat, whether they smoke and even how long they wash their hands in the company restroom. And employers are taking full advantage of that growing capability. Even with union agreements or employment procedure guidelines in effect at many workplaces, the pervading principle of employment law in the United States is employment at will. Under this standard, either the employer or the employee may terminate the employment relationship at any time, with or without