ALBANY — It's a scene ripped from a sci-fi novel: An employee walks into an office building, approaches the security turnstile and with the wave of a hand is granted access thanks to a small microchip implanted under his skin.

Though futuristic, the idea apparently has created enough concern that one state lawmaker wants to regulate microchip implants before (and if) they take off.

State Sen. Tony Avella, D-Queens, introduced legislation this week that would prohibit employers from making personal identification chip implants mandatory, citing concerns about both physical risks and Orwellian privacy intrusion. The bill would make it a misdemeanor to mandate implants.

"As New York remains an at-will employment state, employers could make these implants mandatory as a condition of employment," Avella's bill sponsor's memo states. "No employee should be forced to sacrifice their bodily autonomy as a prerequisite to obtaining or keeping their employment."

Regulation of subdermal ID implants, which are by no means widespread, isn't novel. Five states adopted outright bans on mandatory implantation of radio frequency identification microchips as of March of this year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Lawmakers in other states have sought similar bans without success so far.

In New York, state lawmakers have paid some attention to microchip implants — for animals. Legislation awaiting action by Gov. Andrew Cuomo would require the state Department of Agriculture and Markets to develop uniform standards for pet implants, which are used to find a lost pet's owner.

Employee microchipping made headlines over the summer when the Wisconsin technology company Three Square Market became the first in the United States to offer optional implants to its employees, allowing them to swipe into the building and perform other tasks simply by waving their hand.

The chips are the size of a grain of rice and are implanted between the thumb and the index finger. Three Square Market CEO Todd Westby defended the implants in an interview with the New York Times in August, saying that the chips offered only radio frequency ID capabilities.

"Nobody can track you with it," he told the Times. "Your cellphone does 100 times more reporting of data than does an RFID chip."

Such chips were approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration in 2004, when a Florida company sought the OK for implants that would allow medical providers to quickly access patient records.

The chips have become popular in some corners of Europe. The BBC reported earlier this month that roughly 3,000 Swedes use microchip implants, and a Swedish train company allows riders to use their chips to pay for train tickets, similar to the way Amtrak scans tickets on a rider's cell phone.

mhamilton@timesunion.com • 518-454-5449 • @matt_hamilton10