Watchdog concerned employers are ‘vetting by back door’

Some of Ireland’s biggest employers have been written to by the Data Protection Commissioner in order to assess their compliance after a worrying trend by some employers to force staff and applicants for positions to access and reveal sensitive personal data under Section 4 of the Data Protection Acts held by the Garda Vetting Unit.

The organisations being targeted include AIB and Bank of Ireland, Eircom, Bord Gáis, Electric Ireland and Abtran which provides call services for Irish Water.

Major chain stores include Dunnes Stores, Tesco, Marks and Spencer, Lidl and the Musgrave Group. The Commissioner is attempting to assess compliance with legislation on ‘Enforced Subject Access Requests’ by employers.