Hamburg's data protection commissioner has launched an investigation into Swedish clothing company H&M (Hennes & Mauritz). The investigation is being launched because there is evidence that the company is spying on its employees in Germany.
According to the data, the company's senior employees in Nuremberg are in possession of a hard drive containing data (60 gigabytes) with "detailed and systematic" files of private and sensitive employee data.
The Hamburg Data Protection Commissioner stated that the hard drive contains very personal data related to health (from bladder problems to cancer), family disputes, holiday experiences , etc.
Johannes Caspar, the company's data protection officer, said the data showed the company was continuously monitoring its employees. The files were accessible to all managers at the company.
“In reality, we are talking about regular spying on H&M employees in Nuremberg,” Caspar said.
The situation is very serious for H&M. The company said it takes the matter very seriously and expressed its “sincere regret” for the affected staff.
The amount and type of data that all H&M management had access to shows a comprehensive investigation into the lives of employees. This did not exist in previous years. Employers and managers know everything about the lives of employees, from their health to their personal relationships, their social environment, their vacations, etc.
H&M said it was working with data protection officials after the incident.
In the coming weeks, we will know the fine that the data protection officer will impose on the company. Under the GDPR , H&M could face fine .
