Worker Fired for Disabling GPS That Tracked Her at All Hours

Myrna Arias used to be employed by Intermex, which is a Miami based wire transfer firm that allows customers to send money to Central American nations. Her job was basically a sales position. She traveled to various Hispanic-owned stores in California, offering to install Intermex money transfer machines. There was only one catch for this position though. She had to carry a company issued cell phone at all times, even during off hours.

The GPS in the phone allowed her boss to track her every movement, even when she was at home. She claims that she didn’t mind the fact that the company was tracking her driving speed, and time spent at company locations. It’s not unreasonable for Intermex to make sure she’s using company time properly, especially for a job where management can’t directly observe their employees in the field. However, when her manager bragged that he knew how fast she was driving at every moment of the day, she decided to delete the company’s tracking app.

She claims that this eventually led to her job loss at the company. She tried to inform the manager that the 24-hour tracking was illegal, at which point she claims that he told her to tolerate the illegal intrusion. She’s now suing Intermex for $500,000 for invasion of privacy among other charges.