Featured Image Credit: TikTok/Suzie Cheikho
Topics: Viral, World News, Australia
Claire Reid
A woman who was sacked after her employer used keystroke technology to see how much work she was doing while working from home has said she fears she may not find another job due to the attention the story has brought.
Suzie Cheikho, 38, was let go from her job at Insurance Australia Group, where she had previously worked for 18-years.
She attempted to bring a claim of unfair dismissal made against IAG, but it was rejected after it was found the firm had a 'valid reason of misconduct' to let an employee go.
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Australia's Fair Work Commission (FWC) found that Cheikho had missed deadlines and meetings, been difficult to contact and had cost her employer a fine after failing to complete a task.
The former consultant was previously given a warning by IAG in November 2022 and was put on a performance improvement plan.
Cheikho's productivity was monitored via keystroke technology, which looked at work activity on 49 days between October and December 2022 - and the results were quite stark.
The review found that she started late on 47 days and finished early on 29 of the days when she was being monitored.
On four of the days, she was found to have done no hours of work at all, and on the days when she was working she was accused of not doing very much.
On average she was pressing her keyboard 54 times an hour during the periods in which she was being monitored.
When confronted with this information, Cheikho said she did 'not believe for a minute' that the data generated by keystroke technology was accurate, telling her managers she had 'never not worked'.
The story hit headlines earlier this week, which Cheikho says has been ‘embarrassing’.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, she said: “It's embarrassing that this story has gone viral - nobody is going to hire me.”
And in a since-deleted TikTok post, Cheikho said she was ‘actually getting harassed’ since the story broke.
“This has never happened to me before, and for what?” she said. “Something that’s very emotional and very private, I never even spoke about it on social media.
"I’m literally getting harassed through Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, like what do you want me to do? I can’t get a f**king job.”
She went on to add: “Of course I’m embarrassed. I’m being treated like a full criminal. You should see what they’ve written - I can admit, I’m red hot, bro.”