Peter Wilson wrote:
>Hypothetical Scenario : Company holds a file (containing
>statements etc.police not involved)on alleged harassment
>incident -Not proven. Company wants to hold on to file in case
>it happens again. Where does company stand on subject access
>request? Can they withhold file under S29? What does the panel
>think? Peter
Some thoughts / questions on this:
1. If the case has been investigated then surely the allegations
would have been made known to the person complained of so that
he/she had the chance to respond? If so there should be no
problem in granting subject access at a later stage.
2. If the allegation had been investigated and found not proven
this should clearly be stated on the file.
3. As a human rights issue the person complained of should
surely have the right to defend themselves against malicious or
untruthful allegations and to ensure that such allegations are
not held on a file which may affect their rights and freedoms if
someone chooses to misinterpret the allegations. There will
always be some who take the "no smoke without fire" approach
which could unjustly infringe rights and freedoms and this is
what the DPA seeks to protect.
4. Holding the results of an unproven case would hardly seem to
fit any aspect of section 29 since there is no ongoing work of
detection or prevention except the possible chance of something
happening that may or may not be related to the first incident.
Just because a later incident of harrassment may be proven this
does not prove the first one!
My feeling is that the file can be held but subject access would
have to be granted. Also it would be necessary to correct or
remove any innaccuracies or misleading comments if the subject
requested this.
It will be interesting to see what any of the legal experts on
the list say!
John Hitches
John Hitches
Information Security Officer
and Data Protection Officer
Kingston University
Telephone 020 8547 7768
The views expressed are those of the individual and
not necessarily those of the university
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