HR Articles

Technology has placed a major role in ensuring the survival of businesses across the country over the past 18 months. Companies with strong IT capabilities will have been better placed to weather the changes brought on by the pandemic to the way we work, and our reliance on technology is only set to increase.  

Employers with longstanding employees are likely to have changed record/filing systems over the employee’s length of service. Outside of the tribunal context, the increasing use of data subject access requests is leading to unwanted exposure of employers’ record keeping habits.  

Employers are increasingly reliant on technology to assist with all kinds of functions – from strengthening security to streamlining recruitment processes. But there are other legal risks that may be relevant but less obvious.

Subject Access Requests (SARs) are on the rise as more and more data is collected for social, personal and work purposes. In particular, we have noticed a significant increase within the context of employment and/or workplace disputes.

Many organisations have been struggling with a GDPR grey area since the Schrems II litigation.

The EU has finally adopted the UK adequacy decision. In addition, British Airways settles its data breach case, and the ICO has fined a charity for poor policies and inadequate training.  

In this month’s Data Protection Round-Up: key takeaways from the ICO Data Protection Practitioners Conference, guidance on anonymisation, and a government response to new cyber security legislation.

In this month’s Data Protection Round-Up: a lack of awareness for the Children’s Code, new ICO guidance is in the offing and the Government’s Digital Markets Unit takes shape. 

With the understandable focus on measures to ease lockdown, keeping up with data protection announcements is unlikely to be at the forefront of everyone’s minds. 

The WhatsApp privacy confusion – what is actually going on and should you continue to use the app?