Recommendations on the Data Protection in the Labor Relations are Adopted

2014-06-30 14:02:27
Personal Data Protection Inspector of Georgia published the Recommendations on the Data Protection in the Labor Relations.

The document containing of 13 pages aims at protecting the rights of the employees within the Labor relations, raising awareness of the employers and establishing high standards of data protection.

The Recommendations cover the issues of the collection, storage, security and disclosure of the personal data in the labor relations. They also relate to video surveillance, control of the corporate e-mail, rules of usage of the fingerprints and other biometric data and rights of the employees.

According to the Recommendations the following principles shall be taken into consideration by the employer while processing the personal data:

  • Fairness and lawfulness;
  • Respect to the human rights;
  • Prohibition of discrimination;
  • Adequacy and proportionality;
  • Obligation to provide information to employees.

“During the recruitment process only the data that is is necessary for the selection of the appropriate candidate shall be collected. The information not related to the professional activities, for example, hobby, friends, sport priorities might be only processed with the consent of the data subject. But this information shall not be determining factor for the recruitment, carrier development and salary. – mentioned the Inspector, Tamar Kaldani

According to the document personal data of the employee shall be collected from himself/herself. However, in those cases when collection of the data is necessary from the third party, the data subject must be informed thereon.

The personal data shall be used only for those purposes for which they were collected and sensitive data (political and religious opinions, state of health, etc.) shall be processes only in exceptional cases when it is necessary for fulfilling the labor obligations.

The Inspector says that this ground for the data processing shall not be interpreted broadly, the sensitive data shall be processed lawfully and adequately in relation with the purpose. Otherwise it will be considered as the interference in the private life.

The Recommendations are prepared on the basis of the Georgian Constitution, Law on Personal Data Protection, Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, Recommendations of the International Labor Organization, case law of the European Court of Human Rights and best practices of the European states.

The document is designed for the public and private institutions and is available on the web-page of the Inspector’s Office: http://personaldata.ge/ge/publications/recommendations.