LANSING – Imagine you’re at the office and you want a snack from the vending machine in the break room. Instead of digging around for change or fishing through your wallet for your debit card, you simply wave your hand in front of the machine, money comes out of your bank account, and you get your snickers bar.
How did your hand magically pay for your treat? Via a microchip that was implanted underneath your skin by your employer. This may sound like something from the year 3020, or maybe from an episode of Black Mirror, but it’s not.
While it hasn’t exactly become mainstream just yet, the practice of microchipping employees is happening in companies around the world, and is likely going to become more popular as technology in the workplace becomes more and more advanced (and accepted).
Lawmakers across the country are now preemptively setting bills in motion to protect workers’ rights, before the technology gets out of hand.
RFID stands for radio-frequency identification. These microchips, which are about the size of a grain of rice and are implanted in the skin between the thumb and the forefinger, can replace many of the mobile apps and services we use today.
They can also replace the need for ID checks, time cards, security checks, payments, and building access control at workplaces. The concern, of course, is that these devices could compromise individual rights to privacy- even when they leave the office.
Michigan lawmakers passed the “Microchip Protection Act”, prohibiting employers from requiring workers to accept a microchip implant.
According to State Representative Bronna Kahle of Lenawee County, who sponsored the bill, more and more companies are implanting microchips, about the size of a grain of rice, into employees’ hands to track productivity and look for ways to improve company efficiency.
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