The parliamentary group of the Social Democrat Party (SPD) in Germany on November 25 tabled a draft law on privacy protection in employment relationships. The proposal stems from a series of privacy scandals involving German companies illegally spying on their staff.
The draft comprises provisions on (i) the collection of personal data from job applicants and the usage of such data in the application procedure (ii) the permissibility of video surveillance and employee location techniques, (iii) data usages related to telecommuting and to employees’ use of Internet and e-mail systems owned by the employer, and (iv) provisions on sharing personal data within groups of companies and the co-determination rights of works councils on privacy issues.
It remains to be seen whether the German parliament will take this draft any further; because the Liberal Democratic Party (FDP) and the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) form the actual government and also hold the majority of votes in both chambers (Bundestag and Bundesrat), it is most likely that they will present their own draft on employee privacy in the course of 2010.
