According to Reuters, a major US government contractor for identity verification technology that is being investigated by Congress has fired 39 employees in the last week for inappropriate contacts.
The business, ID.me, said the layoffs were unrelated to an inquiry launched by US legislators last week over “severe concerns” about the efficacy, privacy, and security of its technology, which includes facial recognition. find out more
ID.me has contracts with about a dozen states and ten federal agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), to catch criminals attempting to steal benefits such as unemployment insurance and tax refunds by using fictitious or stolen identities. find out more
During the coronavirus pandemic, processing delays have been a serious concern for the Tysons, Virginia-based firm, and US senators claimed this month that “delays have restricted access to key government services and benefits.”
ID.me stated that certain customer service representatives had been fired “for inappropriate internal messages” that demonstrated disrespect towards coworkers, and that the firm will implement new training and procedures.
On an internal message group conversation, the fraud team swapped jokes, sought guidance, and addressed frustrations, according to five sacked employees who spoke to Reuters.
Two persons reported that when managers approached patrolling for personal cellphone use or other security violations, workers used a rat emoji to notify colleagues.
According to the workers, roughly half of a 70-person team that evaluates users who have been banned out due to suspected fraud or other issues has been laid off.
According to the sources, their departure from ID.me had justify their surviving colleagues with significantly greater caseloads, which they feared would slow response times.
According to Reuters, the changes will have little impact on operations because ID.me is relocating other employees to the fraud section and the workload has lessened since the U.S. tax filing deadline in mid-April.
Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) CapitalG and other funds valued the company, which employs approximately 1,400 people, at $1.5 billion in a financing last year.
While some clients praise ID.me’s work, the company’s use of facial recognition software to verify people, as well as other issues, has prompted a public campaign by rights activists calling for the government to stop using it.
For the past several months, ID.me claims to have eliminated fraud in unprecedented ways, with most users’ wait durations under 30 minutes.
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Employees who were fired expressed worry that ID.me did not offer warnings initially. According to a severance agreement seen by Reuters, it has offered sacked workers a month’s compensation and three months’ healthcare in exchange for agreeing not to sue or speak out about the contract.
ID.me Corporation refused to comment on the package, saying that it had no tolerance for disrespectful talk.
