Can We Share an Employee’s Health Information with The Public Health Agency?
Posted in : First Tuesday Q&A NI on 7 April 2020
Arthur Cox
Arthur Cox
Organisations are not prevented from sharing employees’ health information with authorities, such as the Public Health Agency, for public health purposes. This is in accordance with the lawful basis for processing under Article 9(2)(i) of the GDPR whereby processing special category data (e.g. health data) is permitted when it is necessary for reasons of public interest in the area of public health.
Furthermore, medical practitioners are able to disclose patient information to the Public Health Agency if they become aware or suspect someone has Covid-19. This is due to the implementation of the Public Health Notifiable Disease Order (Northern Ireland) 2020 which makes Covid-19 a notifiable disease.
More on Data Protection & Freedom of Information
- Can an employer refuse a request from an unsuccessful job applicant to delete any of their data in its possession as it may be necessary for the defence of legal claims?
- If employees willingly provide personal email addresses at the start of their employment and their personal email addresses were used to contact them while they worked from home during the Coronavirus Lockdown, is this a breach of data protection?
- Can we ask staff to let us know if they have been vaccinated, and can we keep a record of this?
- Does the chief executive have the right to view sensitive personal data without an employee’s consent?
- Data Protection Implications of Selling From the UK into the EU after Brexit
Disclaimer:
The information in this article is provided as part of Legal-Island's Employment Law Hub. We regret we are not able to respond to requests for specific legal or HR queries and recommend that professional advice is obtained before relying on information supplied anywhere within this article.
Arthur Cox
Arthur Cox
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