There has been no shortage of horror stories about employers using tracking software to monitor employees working from home, however one woman found herself on the sharp end of the practice.
Suzie Cheikho had worked for Insurance Australia Group (IAG) for 18 years, and had been on an improvement plan after concerns were raised about her performance.
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She had been responsible for monitoring 'work from home compliance'. However, her own performance had declined with missed meetings and deadlines, and her company even claiming they were fined by a regulator according to the Fair Work Commission (FWC).
She was put on a plan to improve her performance in November 2022, but was fired on 20 February 2023. During the review, her former employer used tracking software to count how many key strokes she had been making during the day.
When they deemed she had not been making a sufficient number, she was fired. Cheikho was left shocked by her dismissal.
She reportedly admitted to colleagues: "Sometimes the workload is a bit slow, but I have never not worked.
“I mean, I may go to the shops from time to time, but that is not for the entire day. I need to take some time to consider this and I will put forward a response."
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She added: "I have been going through a lot of personal issues which has caused a decline to my mental health and unfortunately I believe it has affected my performance and my work.”
The review observed 49 days of her work, News AU reports. Of these, she was found to have been late on 47 days, and not worked her set hours for 44 days.
In addition, it found that she had finished early on 29 days and for a total of four days she had conducted zero hours of work.
When she had started a video call with one of her bosses, she had 'F***' written on her hand.
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Cheikho had also claimed that her former employer had had a 'premeditated plan to remove her from the business and that she was targeted due to her mental health issues.'
She had filed an application for unfair dismissal. However, Deputy President of the FWC Thomas Roberts confirmed that this had been declined.
He said: “The applicant was dismissed for a valid reason of misconduct. I have little doubt that the factors underlying the applicant’s disconnection from work were serious and real”.
LADbible has reached out to IAG for comment.
Topics: News, World News, Australia
Kit Roberts