A New Zealand electrician fired for refusing to use a facial scanning system to sign in at work has won compensation of more than NZ$23,000 (£11,800).

Tim Fensom worked for eight months as an electrician for KME Services NZ, a contractor on a building project in Christchurch, before being fired in October 2018 for what the company called “serious misconduct”.

Mr Fensom had twice refused to clock in using a facial scan, raising concerns about how his data would be stored and used.

This week the Employment Relations Authority ordered KME to pay him the compensation for “unjustified dismissal, hurt and humiliation”.

Veteran cybersecurity writer Stilgherrian told The Telegraph the case was one of “many instances where employers are going way beyond what is acceptable in terms of monitoring employees”.

“This is a case where they just want to see whether their employee has turned up – you don’t need facial recognition and recording biometrics to do that,” he said.

In September 2018 KME sent a memo to employees at the building site advising them that the paper sign-in system was being replaced by biometric data and facial scanning technology.