Work for idle hands

We’ve all been there: a company makes a technological change and somebody has a problem with it. We had much the same problem here with several employees at HRville when we replaced the carrier pigeons with a system of pneumatic message tubes.

However, our case doesn’t even lay a finger on this case that just came to a close in the US. Beverly Butcher, an employee at Consol Energy Inc. for 30 years, took issue with a new system of hand scanners, introduced in order to track the movement of employees.

Yes, yes, of course. He must have been getting concerned about the excessive level of monitoring that the company was employing when he approached HR. That would make sense.

But no. Mr. Butcher didn’t mind being tracked, indeed he already wore a helmet with a sensor allowing his movements to be recorded at work (he worked in a mine). The problem was the hand scanner itself, and his fear that it would impart the Mark of the Beast onto his hand.

HR obtained assurances from the hand scanner manufacturer that the scanner would not, they promised, allow the Antichrist to enter his body. They suggested the use of the left hand, as the Bible explains the Mark can only appear on the right hand or forehead.

Mr. Butcher respectfully disagreed and resigned under protest. But, as it turned out, an alternative keypad system was available for Mr. Butcher to use all along. Thus a case against Consol Energy was brought.

After a two year legal battle full of scripture and probably a lot of serious sighing, they have been ordered to pay $150,000 in damages. Investigations are still on-going to see if they also owe Mr. Butcher back pay and other compensation. Score one for the devil.

About the author

Jerome Langford

Jerome is a graduate in Philosophy from St Andrews, who alternately spends time writing about HR and staring wistfully out of windows, thinking about life’s bigger questions: Why are we here? How much lunch is too much lunch? What do you mean exactly by ‘final warning’?