Tag: Employer

Article 29 WP releases opinion on data processing at work

11. July 2017

The Article 29 Working Party (WP) has released their opinion on data processing at work on the 8th of June 2017. The Opinion is meant as an amendment to the previous released documents on the surveillance of electronic communications (WP 55) and processing personal data in employment context (WP 48). This update should face the fast-changing technologies, the new forms of processing and the fading boundaries between home and work. It not only covers the Data Protection Directive but also the new rules in the General Data Protection Regulation that goes into effect on 25th of May 2018.

Therefore they listed nine different scenarios in the employment context where data processing can lead to a lack in data protection. These scenarios are data processing in the recruitment process and in-employment screening (especially by using social media platforms), using monitoring tools for information and communication technologies (ICT), usage at home/remote, using monitoring for time and attendance, use of video monitoring, use of vehicles by employees, the disclosure of data to third parties and the international transfer of employee data.

The Article 29 WP also pointed out the main risk for the fundamental rights of the employees. New technologies allow the employer tracking over a long time and nearly everywhere in a less visible way. This can result into chilling effects on the rights of employees because they think of a constant supervision.

As a highlight the Article 29 WP gives the following recommendations for dealing with data processing in the employment context:

  • only collect the data legitimate for the purpose and only with processing taking place under appropriate conditions,
  • consent is highly unlike to be a legal base for data processing, because of the imbalance in power between the employer and the employee,
  • track the location of employees only where it is strictly necessary,
  • communicate every monitoring to your employees effectively,
  • do a proportionality check prior the deployment of any monitoring tool,
  • be more concerned with prevention than with detection,
  • keep in mind data minimization; only process the data you really need to,
  • create privacy spaces for users,
  • on cloud uses: Ensure an adequate level of protection on every international transfer of employee data.