DATA PROTECTION

In October 2001 there was a change to the Data Protection Act with regards to 'Access to Paper-Based Personnel Files'. The key points are as follows:

Employees (and workers who are not employees) now have the legal right to access any paper-based files held on them by their employers, and to take copies of any and all documents on those files.

Requests for access must be made in writing and responded to within the next 40 days.

Employers may, if they wish, impose an access charge of up to £10 for making those files available, although any reasonable employer is unlikely to do so.

Before releasing an employee's personal file for inspection and copying, you would be well advised to ensure that there is no information relating to identifiable third parties, whose rights under the 1998 Act must also be protected and preserved.

Employees have the right to question the relevance of certain data and to be given an explanation of the purposes for which that data is being held.

Although employees can ask for the removal or correction of sensitive, irrelevant or inaccurate data, they will have to wait until the end of the second change to this Act in October 2007 before they can apply to the courts for the destruction or correction of such data.

If you need to check that you are complying to all the Regulations of the Data Protection Act you can download a guidance publication form from www.dataprotection.gov.uk

From HR Solutions Newsletter: November 2001

DATA PROTECTION

Staff expect access to Personal Data

Since October 2001 when the ‘Access to Paper-Based Personnel Files’ came into force   there have been worrying discrepancies between employee expectations and what employers are legally obliged to provide when it  comes to access to employee’s personal information.

A recent survey found that 84% of employees believe they should have access to confidential information about themselves that is held by their employers. 

49% of these said they would only request this information in the case of difficulties at work and 21% said they would request it annually.   

The main type of information to which employees believe they should receive access to are financial records, appraisals, memos and correspondence between managers concerning them, sickness records and timesheets.

Whilst the law gives employers 40 days to respond to written requests, 47% of employees expect to be provided with the information within 24 hours.  A further 18% within 48 hours and 30% within a week.

The Employment Practices Data Protection Code has been released in four parts, two already are the one above regarding Employment Records and the Recruitment and Selection regarding job applications and pre-employment vetting (see February 2002  Newsletter). The other parts are:

		Monitoring at Work—monitoring workers’ use of telephone or e-mail systems and vehicles
		Medical Information—occupational health,  medical testing, drug and genetic screening

There are experiences of employees actively seeking access to their files before leaving a company so they can ‘sweep up’ any possible claim. 

The Act does not prevent an employer from collecting, maintaining or using records about employees, but  attempts to strike a balance between the employer’s need to keep records and the employer’s right to respect for a private life.

Employers need to ensure that they know how to keep and permit access to records.  Also a clause should be included in contracts of employment about the storage and processing of personal information.

For further information visit: www.dataprotection.gov.uk

From HR Solutions Newsletter: November 2002

DATA PROTECTION

The Importance of Keeping Good Records

Expanding on the Data Protection Act changes, the scope of records required that need to be kept for a healthy and legal business is extensive and includes:

		Personnel records: name, address, date of birth, emergency contact numbers, tax code, National Insurance number, and any medical details including any disability
		Employment history with the employer: date of commencement of employment, promotions, job title
		Terms and Conditions of Employment: pay, hours worked, holiday entitlement, any agreements and changes to terms
		Absence details: lateness, sickness, holidays, strike action, maternity, paternity, parental or bereavement leave, etc.
		Accidents at work and whilst travelling to and from work
		Details of training given
		Disciplinary and grievance records
		Equal opportunities details (for monitoring purposes)
		Assessment of staff performance
		Records of risk assessments

Failure to keep certain details, such as hours worked, is considered so serious that criminal sanctions apply.  Failing to keep other details, such as those to facilitate equal opportunities monitoring, can leave employers wide open to discrimination claims with unlimited damages being awarded to applicants.  In addition, records of staff performance and discipline can be extremely helpful when avoiding unfair dismissal claims and offer more choice when making redundancies.

Employment Tribunals see successful claims against employers every day due to lack of effective record keeping.  The extra time taken to keep them could save employers considerable time and money.

For further information visit: www.dataprotection.gov.uk

From HR Solutions Newsletter: November 2002