March 27, 2002—Part one of the Employment Practices Data Protection Code, which deals with recruitment and selection, has now been issued, reports Workplacelaw Network. The main provisions are:
- the code is stated as covering employees, job applicants, agency workers, casual workers and contract workers (whether still working or not);
- it covers data such as salary, Emails, notes about the specific worker and application forms;
- guidance on when it is appropriate to store sensitive personal data (eg race, trade union membership);
- an ‘easy to follow’ checklist for employers to ensure they are complying with the DPA 1998 in connection with advertising, job applications, verification, short-listing, interviews and retention of records.
Part 2 of the Code, dealing with employment records, will be published in April 2002. Parts 3 (monitoring at work) and 4 (medical information) follow at monthly intervals thereafter.
Daniel Barnett
Supplied by WorkplaceLaw.net
