Civil servant claims unlawful access to travel history (2023-07-21)

Summary

This is a published case summary from the Cayman Islands Ombudsman describing an informal resolution of a data protection complaint against the Ministry of Border Control and Labour. It illustrates how the Ombudsman handled allegations of unlawful database access and a delayed subject access request (SAR), rather than establishing new rules.

• Complaint: A civil servant suspected her government employer accessed a travel history database to check her annual leave without a proper legal basis.
• SAR delay: The complainant also submitted a subject access request for her leave records; the Ministry responded beyond the statutory SAR timeframe but eventually disclosed the relevant leave analysis and IRIS financial system report.
• Outcome: The Ministry denied accessing any travel database and explained its queries were based on the Personnel Regulations; the travel-history allegation was not substantiated.
• Case closure: The remaining dispute was characterised as an HR matter outside the Data Protection Act's jurisdiction, and the Ombudsman closed the case.

As a case outcome notice, this document is informational and does not itself impose new compliance obligations, but it signals the Ombudsman's expectation that public authorities respond to SARs within the statutory period and have a documented legal basis before accessing personal data such as travel records.

Applies to

government ministries, public authorities, data controllers