Complaints about subject access requests rise 13.5%

Personnel Today

According to employment law firm GQ|Littler the scale of the complaints could be the “tip of the iceberg” for employers.

Deborah Margolis, senior associate at GQ|Littler said: “Responding to DSARs can take up a significant amount of business resources in terms of both cost and management time.

Bearing in mind how much data we create and process about employees on a daily basis, the time spent trawling through documents is overwhelming for many businesses.”

Margolis added: “DSARs were intended to help individuals to determine if their personal data was being mishandled but some individuals have now weaponised DSARs with the intention of causing disruption for employers and forcing them into reaching favourable settlements.”

Margolis said: “This would be a welcome change for employers many of whom feel that the existing rules allow too many opportunities for abuse”.