Man Fired for Keeping Webcam Off Awarded $73,000

Vocabulary

fire Verb faɪr to remove an employee from their job He was fired because he was late almost every day. remote Adjective rɪˈmoʊt done, happening, etc. from a distance Remote workers often find it difficult to set boundaries between their work and personal lives.

comfortable Adjective ˈkəmftəbəl free from worry, stress, etc. I feel more comfortable working at home. monitor Verb ˈmɑːnɪtər to watch and check someone or something for a period of time Doctors monitored the man's condition for 24 hours after the accident.

privacy Noun ˈpraɪvəsiː the state of not being watched or listened to Tech giants such as Google and Facebook could face tougher penalties under the new privacy law. productive Adjective prəˈdʌktɪv doing a lot or achieving good results Angela is one of our most productive staff members and is very easy to work with.

Man Fired for Keeping Webcam Off Awarded $73,000 A remote worker who was fired for refusing to keep his camera on while working has been awarded about $73,000 by a Dutch court. The man, whose name was not made public, had been working for the US software company Chetu in the Netherlands since 2019. On August 23, 2022, while working remotely, he was told by his employer that he should keep his webcam on all day for online training. The employee said he didn't feel comfortable being monitored on camera for nine hours, and refused to do so. He added that the company could already see all activities on his laptop and that he was also sharing his screen.

But Chetu said that having a camera on was no different from being watched in an office. And the company fired him. Finding this unfair, the man took the company to court in the Netherlands. He told the court that he hadn't been given clear enough reasons for being fired, and that asking him to keep his camera on for the whole workday was against his right to privacy. And the court agreed. Chetu now must pay the man about $73,000.

While using a webcam to check on employees may not be very common, computer programs that monitor employee activity have become popular. A survey from 2021 found that 60% of US companies with remote workers were using employee monitoring software, and 81% of those companies found that their workers were more productive while being monitored.