Employers requiring workers to get microchipped would be banned under new Alabama bill

MOBILE, Ala. (TND) — A few lawmakers in Alabama are proposing legislation that would make it illegal for any employers, private or public, to require their employees to get microchipped.

HB4, set to be introduced by Representatives Prince Chestnut, Kelvin Lawrence and Anthony Daniels, would make it a felony for businesses in Alabama to mandate that workers have a microchip installed within themselves as a condition of employment or services. All three representatives are Democrats.

A microchip is "a device subcutaneously implanted in an individual that is passively or actively capable of transmitting personal information to another device using radio frequency technology," according to the bill.

The term does not include any device used in the diagnosis, monitoring, treatment, or prevention of a health condition that only transmits information necessary to carry out the diagnosis, monitoring, treatment, or prevention of that health condition," the bill adds.

People installing microchips into themselves is a recent trend. Usually, those microchips house data that can be used to help identify the person, and sometimes they can be used for the purpose of bypassing security checkpoints. For example, a worker who has a chip installed in their hand would be able to wave it past a sensor to gain access to the workplace.

A microchip, about the size of a grain of rice, can be embedded under a person's skin, either under the arm or between the pointer finger and thumb, according to Swedish tech startup Epicenter's Chief Disruption Officer, Hannes Sjöblad.

Tech2025 says the point of such chips is to replace the need to carry around key fobs, identification cards and business cards. People would be able to store data, such as passports for airports and medical records, on their chips.

Sjöblad made headlines back in Dec. 2021 for suggesting the chips would be perfect for verifying someone's vaccination status for COVID-19.

Rep. Prince Chestnut, who is co-sponsoring the bill, told Alabama Daily News that "we have to be careful as a society and take our time to consider the ethical and constitutional implications of technology."

Individual liberty and freedom of movement should always remain sacrosanct," Rep. Chestnut reportedly said. "Your right to work should not result in your employer being able to trace your steps and place you under a constant state of 24-hour-a-day, seven-day a week surveillance."

While Rep. Chestnut admits to the publication he isn't currently aware of any businesses in his state mandating the microchipping of their employees, he says that it's the possibility of it occurring that has driven him to push the bill.

I think part of our job as legislators is to be presumptive, to not wait until something gets out of hand before we look for a remedy," Rep. Chestnut told Alabama Daily News.

If passed, Alabama would join the ranks of a small group of other American states to ban employers from mandating microchips. Missouri and Nevada have already banned the practice. California has banned any individual from requiring another to get microchipped.