Did the leader simply not mention the name, or was the fact of Employee A in
Department B having X sick days all he knew? I would have thought that the
situation might be justifiable if all the member knew was the simple fact,
free of personal identifiers. It would be a completely different and
potentially more damaging situation if he had been told all the employee's
details. You could quote my entire medical history, dodgy Achilles tendon
and all to the full council, complete with diagrams, and it wouldn't make
any difference if no-one involved knew they were talking about me.
Tim Turner
Data Protection Officer
Wigan Council
> ----------
> From: Brenda
> Scourfield[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Reply To: Brenda Scourfield
> Sent: 28 April 2004 09:22
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [data-protection] Identifying an individual
>
> During a council meeting a comment was made about an employee who had x
> number of days sick leave. The department involved is a very large
> department and it is unlikely that they could be identified from this,
> except perhaps by their line manager, who wasn't present. No other working
> associates were present, merely members. The employee's name was not
> disclosed.
> However, the employee has now made a complaint that they were identified
> by disclosing the number of days sickness. They have also complained that
> the Leader of the Council should not have been given this information.
> However, LA employees are employed by the members so as our employers I
> would say they are entitled to see our attendence records.
>
> I know that you cannot give information which would directly identify
> someone - ie the man living at 10, Downing Street complained that
> etc '....'
>
> Can anyone give me any advice on this or point me to the part of the Act I
> can quote to the employee, which states non-identifying data is ok to
> disclose.
>
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