D: Data protection during integration advice for frequently sick staff

Category: Nachrichten
By: R. Olschewski - 2B Advice GmbH - the privacy benchmark

If staff during one year is unfit to work for more than six consecutive weeks, or repeatedly unable to work, the employer will clarify, in consultation with the relevant representative body and with the consent of the employee, the ways in which the problem can as far as possible be overcome. The employer will also clarify what support and help will prevent further periods of unfitness to work and enable the employee to retain the position (company integration management).

Since April 2004, section 84 of the SGB IX (German Social Code IX) sets out this approach for employers when employees experience personal, behavioral or work-related difficulties. The employer should involve the Schwerbehindertenvertretung (representative body for disabled staff) and the Office for Integration as soon as possible. These bodies should help to explore the options and all the available help for advice and possible financial contributions, in order to secure the continued employment of the affected person for as long as possible and to remove the relevant difficulties.

 

Where appropriate, the factory or office doctor will also be brought into the discussion. The individual concerned, or his or her representative, should first be informed of the objectives of the company integration management, as well as the nature and extent of the data collected and used for this purpose. The data collected for company reintegration are strictly limited to their purpose and may not, for example, be used in the context of the proceedings of an industrial tribunal. The data protection officer of the company has a particular responsibility to monitor this, and anyone responsible for integration should also take account of it.

 

If actions are considered to promote participation or ongoing support in daily work, the employer will involve the local joint service centers and, in the case of severe disability, the Office for Integration.

 

In such cases, highly sensitive health data are often involved. Data protection must not be forgotten and the data protection officer should be involved at an early stage. In particular, information collected in the context of company reintegration must not be used for the purposes of dismissal. A strict separation and where necessary a prior review of the work flow for company reintegration is therefore absolutely essential.

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