Sorry if this is a repeat I seem to be having some difficulty registering
on the list
The Code of Practice on Employment Records gives some guidance but as it
admits the law s not absoloutely clear and the advice is tentative.
However it does draw an imprortance distinction between absence records and
sickness records. The latter include information about health conditions
and are subject to the sensitive data criteria. It advises mere absence on
sick leave does not constitute sensitive data.
It recognises that managers have a legitimate interest in monitoring absence
though it advises caution re the use of league tables though the implication
here is that these explicitly include personal identifying information.
Rates of sickness absence and patterns of absence should be a key concern
both for managers and cllrs with oversight and direction responsibilities.
Salaries are the major element in local government expenditure and poor
sickness performance adds directly to Council tax bills. Reporting
anonymous statistics to approporiate committees is in my view not only
justified but necessary. However, where there is a danger that people with
additional knowledge may be able to identify individuals from the
information the reports and minutes should be confidential and consideration
should be in closed session. The Minites should be careful to report only
totals or overall percentages from which individuals cannot be identified.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
All archives of messages are stored permanently and are
available to the world wide web community at large at
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/data-protection.html
If you wish to leave this list please send the command
leave data-protection to [log in to unmask]
All user commands can be found at : -
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/help/commandref.htm
(all commands go to [log in to unmask] not the list please)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
