Data Protection In The Employment Sector During Covid-19 Outbreak

Over the past few weeks, we have witnessed governments, public authorities as well as private organizations and companies within the EU, taking measures to contain the pandemic outbreak of Covid-19. Such measures have inevitably affected the processing of special categories of personal data especially with the context of employment.

The European Data Protection Board (the "EDPB") in its statement of 20^th of March 2020 has stated that:

"Data protection rules (such as the GDPR) do not hinder measures taken in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. A number of considerations should be taken into account to guarantee the lawful processing of personal data and in all cases it should be recalled that any measure taken in this context must respect the general principles of law and must not be irreversible. Emergency is a legal condition which may legitimise restrictions of freedoms provided these restrictions are proportionate and limited to the emergency period".