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‘Employment disputes to spark data issues’

A poll conducted by law firm William Fry LLP at a Cork CounselConnect event has found that 96% of in-house lawyers in Munster believe that their organisation is prepared to handle a data-subject access request (DSAR).

A DSAR allows individuals to request access to their personal data being processed by an organisation under the GDPR regime.

The event, which took place in William Fry's Cork office, brought together in-house counsel to discuss navigating the legal landscape of DSARs, data-protection actions, and penalisation claims. 

Policies

The poll also highlighted that 78% of attendees had received a DSAR from an employee or a customer in the last 12 months.

William Fry lawyers at the event stressed that data-protection issues would continue to arise in the context of employment disputes.

They urged employers to establish strong data-protection policies, ensuring high levels of compliance with data-protection legislation, and seeking expert legal advice when necessary.

Compensation rights

The firm says that the topic is particularly relevant due to recent court rulings that have clarified the interpretation of compensation rights under GDPR and the Data Protection Act, the conferral on the District Court of jurisdiction to hear data-protection actions, and the expanded scope of the protected-disclosures regime.

Adele Hall (senior associate, litigation and investigations) highlighted the importance of robust compliance and incident-response protocols for organisations, should data breaches occur.

Jenny Martin (senior associate, employment and benefits) added that it was crucial to identify potentially relevant data sources at an early stage, and to correctly balance data-protection and employment-law obligations.