Data protection in employment

Summary

This is a guidance page from Guernsey's Office of the Data Protection Authority explaining that employers who hold personal data about staff must handle it lawfully. The page itself is essentially an index of topics and links rather than detailed rules, pointing employers to further guidance on how data protection law applies to HR data and to the seven data protection principles.

• Whether data protection law applies to HR data
• What counts as special category data in an employment context
• Principle 1: Lawfulness, fairness and transparency
• Principle 2: Purpose limitation
• Principle 3: Data minimisation
• Principle 4: Data accuracy
• Principle 5: Storage limitation
• Principle 6: Integrity and confidentiality
• Principle 7: Accountability
• Individuals' rights of employees as data subjects

The page does not set out specific procedural deadlines or new legal requirements; it functions as a signpost reminding employers that processing employee personal data must comply with existing data protection principles and individual rights.

Key obligations

• Employers processing employee personal data must ensure that processing is lawful, fair and transparent
• Employers must limit collection and use of employee data to specified purposes (purpose limitation) and keep it to what is necessary (data minimisation)
• Employers must keep employee data accurate, retain it no longer than necessary (storage limitation), and keep it secure (integrity and confidentiality)
• Employers must be able to demonstrate accountability for their handling of employee data
• Employers must respect and facilitate employees' individual rights as data subjects

Applies to

employers