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Mike Clover
Member - 3 posts
One of our employees was involved in a car accident, which was totally unconnected to his employment. His insurance company has requested the usual information relating to loss of wages etc but has now asked for a copy of his entire personnel file to be supplied to them. The employee has signed that he is willing for this to be done.
The file will contain details of his appraisals, disciplinary records, bank details, copies of birth / marriage certificates etc. Much of this is obviously not relevant to the claim.
Do we have to comply with the request, as the information being requested is excessive for the purposes required and are there any Data Protection issues if we did indeed comply with the request?
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Craig Stuart
Member - 86 posts
Hi Mike
It's a strange way for the insurer to do business. I've never heard of anything like this before, but ultimately if the employee himself has agreed to this information being released, then the DPA is not undermined. I would however, as the file holder, speak to the insurers direct and ascertain exactly what information they DO require and send only that. You could argue the point that it is part of the employer/employee (implied contract term) relationship and not for the eyes of anyone else.
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Carl Manning
Member - 11 posts
I agree with Craig, the Insurer should only be given information relevant to the claim.
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John Turnbull - BPE Solicitors
Online advisor - 2 posts
Employers are obliged under the Data Protection Act 1998 to adhere to eight data protection principles. The first principle is that personal information is fairly and lawfully processed which means that personal information must not be obtained or used unless either the employee has consented or one of a limited range of conditions has been met.
The second principle is that personal information is obtained and processed only for specified and lawful purposes (i.e. that it is used only for clearly agreed purposes), in this case for the purposes of an insurance claim.
The third principle is that the personal information is adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to its stated purpose (i.e. not storing more information than is necessary about a person).
Therefore, on a practical note, you may wish to ask the insurance company to give reasons why the entire personnel file is required as, as you have identified, there are likely to be details on file which are likely to be irrelevant to the claim.
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