General Data Protection Regulation

Article 88

Processing in the context of employment

1. Member States may, by law or by collective agreements, provide for more specific rules to ensure the protection of the rights and freedoms in respect of the processing of employees' personal data in the employment context, in particular for the purposes of the recruitment, the performance of the contract of employment, including discharge of obligations laid down by law or by collective agreements, management, planning and organisation of work, equality and diversity in the workplace, health and safety at work, protection of employer's or customer's property and for the purposes of the exercise and enjoyment, on an individual or collective basis, of rights and benefits related to employment, and for the purpose of the termination of the employment relationship.

2. Those rules shall include suitable and specific measures to safeguard the data subject's human dignity, legitimate interests and fundamental rights, with particular regard to the transparency of processing, the transfer of personal data within a group of undertakings, or a group of enterprises engaged in a joint economic activity and monitoring systems at the work place.

3. Each Member State shall notify to the Commission those provisions of its law which it adopts pursuant to paragraph 1, by 25 May 2018 and, without delay, any subsequent amendment affecting them.

Holdings

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C-65/2319 Dec 2024

MK v K GmbH

Under Article 88(1) and (2) of Regulation 2016/679, a national-law provision on the processing of personal data for the purposes of employment relationships that was adopted pursuant to Article 88(1) must require its addressees to comply not only with Article 88(2), but also with Article 5, Article 6(1), and Article 9(1) and (2).

C-65/2319 Dec 2024

MK v K GmbH

Where a collective agreement falls within Article 88(1) of Regulation 2016/679, the parties' discretion to decide whether processing is 'necessary' under Articles 5, 6(1) and 9(1) and (2) does not prevent the national court from carrying out a full judicial review of that question.

C-34/2130 Mar 2023

Hauptpersonalrat der Lehrerinnen und Lehrer beim Hessischen Kultusministerium v Minister des Hessischen Kultusministeriums

National legislation is not a 'more specific rule' within the meaning of Article 88(1) if it does not satisfy the conditions in Article 88(2).

C-34/2130 Mar 2023

Hauptpersonalrat der Lehrerinnen und Lehrer beim Hessischen Kultusministerium v Minister des Hessischen Kultusministeriums

National provisions adopted to protect employees' rights and freedoms in employment-related personal-data processing must be disregarded if they do not comply with Article 88(1) and (2). They may still be applied if they constitute a legal basis referred to in Article 6(3) and comply with the GDPR's requirements.