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What is GDPR Employee Data?

Lawrence Bonk Profile image

Written by:

Lawrence Bonk
Updated January 6, 2023

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If you are new to the wide world of online privacy, you may wonder what is GDPR employee data. Many of the best websites and online shopping platforms, after all, have adopted a number of practices that impact consumer privacy, which is where the GDPR comes into play. So why do we need consumer privacy laws, what is the GDPR, and how do these laws help average employees? Keep reading to find out.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

  • The General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, is a suite of consumer privacy rights and legal obligations for EU residents.
  • These laws dictate how companies can sell or trade personal information acquired via sign-ups, such as sexual orientation and employment relationships, without explicit consent.
  • The GDPR rulings benefit standard consumers and the processing of employees, including employment context and employment contracts, so long as they are in the EU.

What is the GDPR?

The General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR DPA, is a comprehensive suite of consumer privacy laws developed for residents of the European Union (EU.) These rulings pertain to any information about natural persons within the region, so this law does not protect anonymous accounts. Just like California’s CCPA law, this ruling allows consumers to request that companies refrain from selling personal data and allows them to issue deletion requests, which is important when dealing with sensitive data under the GDPR. There is no GDPR for the US market, though certain states have their own versions.

Insider Tip

If you suspect your information has been sold without consent, reach out to the company and ask them to delete it.

What is Employee Data Under the GDPR?

Employees are consumers and require the same privacy protection laws as the unemployed. In other words, employee data protection under the GDPR works similarly to standard consumer data protection. There is a multitude of regulations in place, but they all boil down to the same thing. Companies cannot sell your personal information without prior authorization, and the consent form must be clearly demarcated and not hidden in legalese.

Additionally, employees have the right to petition companies to delete sensitive personal data if they fail to comply, facing strict civil penalties in the meantime. These companies must not only delete the information from their servers but communicate with any data brokers they sold the information to so they can do the same.

Benefits of the GDPR

The GDPR is a comprehensive suite of regulatory tools and laws that truly help protect EU citizens from nefarious digital corporate practices.

  • Reduced spam – If companies cannot sell your personal information without consent, that includes email addresses.
  • Minimal chances of identity theft – The ruling also pertains to social security numbers, financial data, and much more.
  • Fewer instances of targeted ads – The GDPR laws have led to a reduced frequency of targeted advertisements for EU residents.

STAT: The European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect on May 25, 2018. (source)

GDPR Employee Data FAQs

What does this all mean?

It means that information processing activity is closely monitored to ensure subject rights with a collective agreement that employers won’t sell personal employee information.

What can the employee do?

If an employee has a case with a lawful basis, they can contact supervisory authorities or protection officers for more information and to start a deletion request, no matter their ethnic origin.

What happens when the employer and the employees are in different countries?

As long as the employer is located in the European Union, the GDPR laws are still in effect to cover the legal bases of employees located elsewhere in the world. This pertains to protection impact assessments and the processing of employees.
Lawrence Bonk Profile image
Lawrence Bonk
Lawrence Bonk is a copywriter with a decade of experience in the tech space, with columns appearing in Engadget, Huffington Post and CBS, among others. He has a cat named Cinnamon.