Your Subscription

We would like to ensure that you are still receiving content that you find useful – please confirm that you would like to continue to receive ILO newsletters.





Login
Twitter LinkedIn




Login
  • Home
  • About
  • Updates
  • Awards
  • Contact
  • Directory
  • OnDemand
  • Partners
  • Testimonials
Forward Share Print
Stanchi Studio Legale

Privacy, employee assessments and email

Newsletters

11 May 2016

Employment & Immigration Italy

Access to employee assessments
Access to work email account



The Italian courts recently issued two decisions regarding privacy and access to company email accounts.

Access to employee assessments

The Supreme Court decision of April 7 2016 (6775/2016) established that access to a personal email account and employee assessments is protected under the Privacy Law (675/1996) and that an employee has the right to access employee assessments and verify whether they have been conducted according to good-faith standards. The employer must be able to explain the objective parameters applied.

The case involved an employee who repeatedly asked her employer for access to her annual performance reviews because they contained negative assessments of the quality of her work, which had been made since she had been transferred to another department, while she had previously always received positive assessments.

In particular, the employee tried to obtain evidence of the reasoning and evaluation on which the negative assessments were based. The employer did not provide this information and the employee filed a request before the Data Protection Authority, which ordered the employer to provide the records requested to the employee; however, the employer did not comply with the order. As a result, the employee filed a request before a judicial court.

In the first and second instances, the trial courts declared that the filing was "unacceptable" because the employee had already filed the case before the Data Protection Authority. However, the Supreme Court noted that judicial proceedings were an alternative to the request before the Data Protection Authority only for appeals with the same aim. Instead, in this case the employee's right to access her records was protected under the working relationship itself. The employer's obligation in that regard comes from the duties of good faith and fair dealing standards under Articles 1175 and 1375 of the Civil Code and the Privacy Law (675/1996).

As regards the issue of annual professional assessment in particular, the court noted the following:

"Considering the protection of a worker's dignity, the employer may decide to verify compliance with the procedures applied in the formulation of the evaluation to the above parameters (good faith and fair dealing). The employer carries the burden of responsibility to provide reasons for its assessment in order to allow supervision by the courts. The judge not only has to verify the consistency of the judgment, but also the correctness of the method of forming the same. Therefore, both positive and negative data that is relevant for the assessment must be considered, with the exclusion of data that is extraneous to work activity."

Access to work email account

Another interesting decision was issued by a trial court on first instance (Court of Verona, April 5 2016).

The decision confirmed that access to a corporate email account need not be provided to an employee seeking reinstatement, as a work email account can be used only during a working relationship (this includes managing directors) and is a benefit of the contract with the employer rather than property of the employee.

For further information on this topic please contact Andrea Stanchi at Stanchi Studio Legale by telephone (+39 02 546 9522) or email (a.stanchi@stanchilaw.it or studio@stanchilaw.it).

The materials contained on this website are for general information purposes only and are subject to the disclaimer.

ILO is a premium online legal update service for major companies and law firms worldwide. In-house corporate counsel and other users of legal services, as well as law firm partners, qualify for a free subscription.

Forward Share Print

Author

Andrea Nicolò Stanchi

Andrea Nicolò Stanchi

Register now for your free newsletter

View recent newsletter

More from this firm

  • COVID-19: suspension of dismissals and extension of financial support and family leave
  • Temporary rules for redundancy
  • ECJ on paid leave in case of unlawful dismissal and reinstatement: Italian viewpoint
  • COVID-19: workplace health and safety
  • When can employers use private investigators?

More articles

  • Home
  • About
  • Updates
  • Awards
  • Contact
  • My account
  • Directory
  • OnDemand
  • Partners
  • Testimonials
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Follow on LinkedIn
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy policy
  • GDPR Compliance
  • Terms
  • Cookie policy
Online Media Partners
Inter-Pacific Bar Association (IPBA) International Bar Association (IBA) European Company Lawyers Association (ECLA) Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) American Bar Association Section of International Law (ABA)

© 1997-2021 Law Business Research

You need to be logged in to make a comment. Log in here.
Many thanks. Your comment has been sent.

Your details



Your comment or question *