Rojgar Job News

Unheralded and unannounced, recently revised GDPR guidance from the ICO removed one small source of comfort for employers facing DSARs from employees. It used to say that the 30-day time limit was paused, the clock stopped, if you asked the requester for information to clarify his DSAR and it was not provided. This was not carte blanche to delay things – the request for clarification had to be made as soon as possible (i.e. not Day 29) and it had to relate to information you genuinely and reasonably needed in order to comply with the DSAR. Still, it was better than nothing in a tight corner. You also had to do your best to comply in a timely manner with those parts of the DSAR not covered by your request for further information. However, it has now gone. The revised guidance still allows you to seek clarity from the maker of the DSAR but makes it clear that the clock is not stopped pending receipt of it. There is no explanation of why the original guidance has been changed alread...

Just flicking idly through the ICO’s new guidance the other evening, as you do when the only alternative is Ant & Dec, and two paragraphs caught my eye. In the section relating to DSARs which are “ manifestly unfounded ” (and can therefore be batted away by the employer) appear two examples, where: “ the individual clearly has no intention to exercise their right of access. For example, an individual makes a request but then offers to withdraw it in return for some sort of benefit from the organisation” ; and “ the request is malicious in intent and is being used to harass an organisation with no real purpose other than to cause disruption” . There will be few employers on the receiving end of a DSAR from a disgruntled employee who would not consider either or both of those paragraphs to apply to it. So is this at last a means of pushing back against the weaponisation of DSARs in employment disputes, hooray? And if you add to that the refere...