A Sydney insurance worker's claim she was unfairly sacked after the activity on her laptop was tracked as she worked from home has been dismissed.
Suzie Cheikho was a consultant for Insurance Australia Group Services Australia Ltd (IAG) from May 2005 and one of her responsibilities as part of the outbound comms team wasworkfrom home compliance.
The company claimed when it logged her computer keystrokes there was significant periods where no or minimal keyboard activity was present, which Cheikho disputed after she was fired in February this year over misconduct claims.
An insurance worker's claim she was unfairly sacked was dismissed after she admitted she went shopping while she was supposed to be working from home(Getty Images/iStockphoto)
IAG said Cheikho, who worked from home almost permanently, failed to work as required from October to December 2022.
Cheikho claimed there was a premeditated plan to remove her from the business, and denied the results of the cyber review of her keyboard, according to aFair Work report on the decision.
Cheikho didn't work her rostered 7.8 hours for 44 out of 49 working days, the review said.
When she did log on, checks found very low keystroke activity.
Sometimes the workload is a bit slow but I have never not worked, she said.
I may go to the shops from time to time but that is not for the entire day.
During November 2022, Cheikho only did an average of 34 keystrokes per hour and had 143 hours when she did no typing at all, the report said.
The company told Fair Work it would expect upwards of 500 keystrokes per hour for her job, which included data entry.
Cheikho said she was confused and shocked about the dataand doubted the accuracy.
She also said she had been going through personal issues.
After being sacked, she filed an application for unfair dismissal with Fair Work Australia, and wanted compensation.
The company also told Fair Work Cheikho turned up to a Teams meeting with her manager over claims she didn't complete a task, which resulted in the company being fined, with the word f--- written on her hand.
A Fair Work Australiafound the dismissal was valid and not harsh, unjust or unreasonable.
IAG declined to comment.
https://www.9news.com.au/national/sydney-woman-sacked-after-computer-tracked-while-working-from-home-fair-work-commission/9062dde7-08f4-4017-beb6-c8415c3d3781
