Data protection in the employment relationship
The employment relationship is one of the most sensitive areas of data protection. Employers process a wide range of personal data about their employees — from application through to departure. At the same time, employees have significant data protection rights that employers may not disregard.
The legal basis is found primarily in Section 26 BDSG (German Federal Data Protection Act) as well as Art. 6 and 9 GDPR.
Common topics in employee data protection
Applicant data
- What data may be collected during the application process?
- How long may application documents be retained?
- How are rejected applications correctly deleted?
Employee monitoring
- Are video surveillance in the workplace, email monitoring, or GPS tracking permitted?
- Under what conditions is monitoring lawful?
- What co-determination rights does the works council have?
Works council agreements
Works council agreements can serve as a legal basis for data processing (Section 26(4) BDSG). We draft compliant works council agreements on topics such as:
- IT usage policies
- Time tracking systems
- Email and internet use
- Video surveillance
BYOD and remote work
The use of personal devices for business purposes (BYOD) and remote work create special data protection requirements. We help develop practical, workable policies.
Confidentiality undertakings
Employees who handle personal data must be bound to data confidentiality. We prepare the corresponding confidentiality undertakings.
Deletion concept for employee data
After an employment relationship ends, employee data must be deleted — but not immediately and not entirely. Tax and labor law retention obligations take precedence. We create a clear deletion concept for you.