FinlandAct on the Protection of Privacy in Working Life, Sections 15 to 17, Genetic Testing and Camera Surveillance of Employees
Laki yksityisyyden suojasta työelämässä 759/2004, 15-17 §
In force since .
A comprehensive regime rule binding public and private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Prohibition, Disclosure, Retention
As of .
What it requires
- Do not require an employee to take part in genetic testing when hiring or during the employment, and do not seek to learn whether a genetic test has been done on an employee (Act on the Protection of Privacy in Working Life Section 15).
- If you operate camera surveillance in premises you use, do it only to ensure the personal safety of employees and others, protect property, monitor the operation of production processes or prevent or investigate situations that endanger them, and do not use it to monitor a particular employee or particular employees (Section 16, paragraph 1).
- Do not place cameras in toilets, changing rooms or similar places, other staff facilities, or rooms assigned to employees' personal use, and target surveillance at a particular workstation only in the cases Section 16, paragraph 3 lists (Section 16, paragraphs 2 and 3).
- Before introducing camera surveillance, examine less intrusive means, keep the intrusion on employee privacy to what is necessary, use recordings only for the purposes of the surveillance, inform employees after the cooperation or consultation procedure, and announce the surveillance visibly in the premises where cameras are placed (Section 17, paragraph 1).
- Destroy recordings as soon as they are no longer needed for the purpose of the surveillance and at the latest one year after the recording ends, subject to the exceptions in Section 17, paragraph 3 (Section 17, paragraph 3).
What this law does
An employer may not require an employee to take part in genetic testing when hiring or during the employment, and has no right to find out whether a genetic test has been done on an employee. An employer may carry out continuous camera surveillance in premises it uses to ensure the personal safety of employees and others, protect property, monitor the proper operation of production processes, or prevent or investigate situations that endanger safety, property or production.
Camera surveillance may not be used to monitor a particular employee or particular employees at the workplace. There may be no camera surveillance in toilets, changing rooms or similar places, other staff facilities, or rooms assigned to employees' personal use.
An employer may target camera surveillance at a particular workstation only where necessary to prevent obvious threats of violence or danger, to prevent and solve property crime where handling valuable property is an essential part of the employee's duties, or at the request of the employee to be monitored.
Before introducing camera surveillance the employer must examine less intrusive means, must not intrude on employee privacy more than necessary, may use recordings only for the purposes of the surveillance, must inform employees after the cooperation or consultation procedure, and must announce the surveillance visibly in the premises where cameras are placed.
Recordings must be destroyed as soon as they are no longer needed for the purpose of the surveillance and at the latest one year after the recording ends. Sections 16 and 17 were last amended by Act 347 of 2019, in force from .
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app processes biometric data or makes high-risk automated decisions.