Shares in outsourcing firm Serco Group PLC (LSE:SRP) slipped 2% after a UK watchdog ordered the FTSE 250 company to axe the use of its facial recognition technology (FRT) and fingerprint scanning to monitor staff.
Some 2,000 workers at Serco's leisure businesses have had their biometric data unlawfully processed, Britain's data protection watchdog, the Information Commissioner's Office, revealed.
The data was being used to monitor attendance and subsequently decide pay for staff members at 38 leisure centres owned by or associated with Serco.
"They failed to show why it is necessary or proportionate to use FRT and fingerprint scanning for this purpose when there are less intrusive means available such as ID cards or fobs," the ICO said.
"Employees have not been proactively offered an alternative to having their faces and fingers scanned to clock in and out of their place of work, and it has been presented as a requirement in order to get paid."
Serco has been ordered to delete all biometric data that it doesn't legally need to hold.