5/12/2015

US employee sues after 'being fired for deleting app' that tracked her location | Technology | The Guardian

US employee sues after 'being red for

deleting app' that tracked her location
Myrna Arias alleges her job in sales was terminated for uninstalling app that let her managers
monitor her even when off-duty
Alex Hern
Tuesday 12 May 2015 07.47 EDT

An American sales executive is suing for wrongful termination after she was red from
her job for uninstalling an app that let her employer track her location 24 hours a day,
even while she was o-duty.
Myrna Arias, who according to her lawsuit worked for money transfer company Intermex
for three months until she was red in May 2014, had been required to download Xora, a
workplace management app, as part of her employment.
The app allows an employer to monitor workers who arent in the oce, and advertises
its ability to see the location of every mobile worker on a Google Map to show where
they have been, the route they have driven and where they are now.
The lawsuit alleges that: After researching the app and speaking with a trainer from
Xora, Plainti and her co-workers asked whether Intermex would be monitoring their
movements while o-duty. [Arias boss, John] Stubits admitted that employees would be
monitored while o duty, and bragged that he knew how fast she was driving at specic
moments ever since she had installed the app on her phone.
Plainti expressed that she had no problem with the apps GPS function during work
hours, but she objected to the monitoring of her location during non-work hours and
complained to Stubits that this was an invasion of her privacy. She likened the app to a
prisoners ankle bracelet and informed Stubits that his actions were illegal. Stubits
replied that she should tolerate the illegal intrusion.
He conrmed that she was required to keep her phones power on 24/7 to answer
phone calls from clients. Stubits scolded Plainti when she de-installed the app in late
April 2014 in order to protect her privacy.
The lawsuit seeks damages in excess of $500,000 to remedy lost earnings and wages.
Ariass attorney told the website Ars Technica that management would tell her coworkers and her of their driving speed, roads taken, and time spent at customer
locations. Her manager made it clear that he was using the program to continuously
monitor her, during company as well as personal time.
More news
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/may/12/us-employee-myrna-arias-sues-intermex-xora

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5/12/2015

US employee sues after 'being fired for deleting app' that tracked her location | Technology | The Guardian

Topics
GPS
Privacy
Data protection
Women

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/may/12/us-employee-myrna-arias-sues-intermex-xora

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