From the Right to be Let Alone to the Control of Personal Data (in the Labour Context)

Abstract

The theme of this paper is the paradigm shift in the outlook of workers’ privacy protection. The focus of this work is the successive and recent evolution of this theme, defending an active approach to privacy, per which the workers have sufficient control over their data. The theoretical framework of the worker’s right to privacy and its adaptation to the current technological world is the base of the adopted methodology. It includes the study of the legislation, doctrinal and jurisprudential positions, and guidelines from various bodies and entities. The conclusions summarise the current challenges faced by the labour jurist, in an era when NICT (new information and communication technologies) are part of the corporate environment to find ways to raise awareness about the reaffirmation of limits and control of technology, as the only way to guarantee the safeguarding of the workers’ fundamental rights, which are undoubtedly essential for defending the worker in a potentially absorbing context outside his domain, being subject to corporate power. The conciliation between the defence of workers’ privacy, on the one hand, and business interests and rights, on the other hand, is the reference for balance.