Data Protection Law for Employers: 2008

Overview

What is this briefing about?

In 2008, data protection security issues have never been so prominent following the loss by HMRC of the personal data of 25 million people and the subsequence furore and consultation into legislation change in this field.

This briefing seeks to summarise the application of the Act to the employment discipline. It concentrates on the areas, which are useful and practical to employers by examining the Information Commissioner’s Office code of practice. It answers many of the mundane, day-to-day data protections issues that employers and those who are responsible for personal data need to know.

This report is directly relevant to:

• All employers who handle personal data – ie. most employers
• Personnel and HR departments
• Company secretaries
• Privacy officers
• Data Protection officers
• Law firms

Content

1 INTRODUCTION AND GUIDANCE FOR EMPLOYERS

• Introduction
• Subject access requests
• Compliance
• Changing law
• The Employment Practices Code
• Personal data
• Making access requests
• Managing Data Protection
• Conclusion
• Further information
• Technical Guidance notes
• Detailed Specialist Guidance

2 RECRUITMENT

• General
• Advertising
• Applications
• Verification
• Short-listing
• Interviews
• Pre-employment vetting
• Retention of recruitment records
• Criminal Records Bureau
• Information commissioner’s frequently asked questions
• Checklist

3 EMPLOYMENT RECORDS

1. Managing data protection
2. Collecting and keeping employment records
3. Security
4. Sickness and accident records
5. Pension and insurance schemes
6. Equal Opportunities Monitoring
7. Marketing
8. Fraud detection
9. Workers’ access to information about themselves
10. References
11. Disclosure requests
12. Publication and other disclosures
13. Mergers and acquisitions
14. Discipline, grievance and dismissal
15. Outsourcing data processing
16. Retention of records
Frequently asked questions

Checklist

4 MONITORING

• Examples of monitoring
• Assessments
• Is a worker’s consent needed?
• Electronic communications
• Managing data protection
• Monitoring electronic communications
• How to notify employees of email rules
• Video and audio monitoring
• Conclusion
• Frequently asked questions

5 WORKERS’ HEALTH

• Checks by doctors
• Is the testing needed?
• Drug and alcohol testing
• Genetic testing
• General guidance
• Conclusion

APPENDIX

FURTHER INFORMATION

The author

Susan Singleton is a solicitor with her own London firm, Singletons, which specialises in: data protection law; intellectual property law; IT/ecommerce; competition law and general commercial law. According to the Chambers and Partners Legal Directory she is one of the UK’s leading IT lawyers. In 2002, she acted for the claimant in the first damages action for breach of the EU competition rules to come before the English courts Arkin v Borchard and Others. She is author of over 25 law books on topics such as internet and ecommerce law, competition law, commercial agency law, data protection legislation and intellectual property and writes around twenty legal articles a month.