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My wife, newly hired, was asked to un-blur her camera during a routine meeting to confirm her I9 information. This seems like a violation to me? (lemmy.world)

submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by shalafi@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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She had interviewed and met both remotely and in person, this guy was merely an HR drone confirming her documentation. I was a little bent when she told me he had asked her to remove her blur filter "to have a look at her working environment, make sure it's not cluttered" (something along those lines). No one else at this company requested such. Was he way out of line?

I should note, this is my PC in our living room and not where she will be working from. And this guy wants a look around our home?! Told my wife to bring this up once she's settled in, ask HR if this is policy. She started today!

She thinks it's a racism thing. I'm not so sure, but I don't have any other explanation.

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[–] a_baby_duck@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Not a racism thing. Happened to me at my last two companies (white guy, both remote jobs).

[–] FilthyHookerSpit@lemmy.world 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Same here. It's company policy to review remote workers space to make sure it's not in a place where client information can be overhead/people can see the screen. My boss is really lax about it and just requires me to unblur for a minute, tops.

[–] a_baby_duck@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago

For me it was strictly during onboarding for verifying I-9 documents. I assume it's just to ensure any documents you present aren't getting software blurred.

[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I'm inclined to agree, and was surprised my wife though it might be a racist thing. She's not one to pull the race card, quite the opposite in fact.

What was the reasoning for the company's request and at what part of the onboarding process was it?

[–] a_baby_duck@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

No judgment here, and to be clear I don't mean to invalidate her suspicion or yours. It wouldn't surprise me if there were unethical individuals in HR who take things like this as an opportunity to call out things they don't like... But in my experience, the asking part is pretty typical, and I doubt it was targeted.

For me, I-9 verification was very early on in the onboarding process. A list of eligible I-9 documents was provided in the onboarding paperwork and HR scheduled a time in my first day or two to show them on camera. Took maybe 2 minutes once we were actually on the call.

I didn't press them on why when asked to unblur, but given I-9 is about presenting documents that verify your identity / eligibility to work, I suspect it's best practice to avoid any obvious image processing as a matter of policy. At the very least, not having to worry about the paper getting blurred just makes things easier. Ultimately, they're keeping these images on file to cover their own ass, so they want them to look as clear and legitimate as possible.