This humor appeared in the TV drama "Legal High" (), first season, in the first episode. The guy in question is named Sugiura ().
It doesn't really mean that the guy is lowly, it just means that he's a person who doesn't make his presence felt at all, so even the automatic door doesn't recognize him. The exact explanation in Japanese would be .
It is not really an idiom. I have not heard of it often, besides the TV drama episode.
(*)BTW, it's a nice TV series and I'd recommend watching it, it's available by VOD.