HR Tip: Disclosing employees' birthdays

HR Zone

HR Tip: Disclosing employees' birthdays

HRD & Payroll Solutions continues to bring HR Zone members a range of HR and payroll tips in 2007. A market leader in the provision of HR and Payroll training and nationally recognised professional qualifications, HRD & Payroll Solutions are highly experienced in teaching about common HR and payroll problems. A wide selection of tips, tricks and guidance can be seen below. HR Zone highly recommends that any tips are taken as a starting point for guidance only.

Question: "If someone asks for the date of birth of a colleague and says that it is because they want to send a birthday card we give them the day and month but not the year of birth. However someone objected to that and said that we were breaking the law. Are we?"

HR Tip:
It may sound petty but, yes, you would be in breach of the Data Protection Act. Personal data such as date of birth, home address, telephone number and so on are held by the employer in confidence and should not be revealed unless there is a strict business need to know, the enquirer has a statutory authority to demand the information, or the employee gives permission.

You need to make this quite clear to all your employees. It may well restrict their ability to carry out certain well meaning social functions but it also signals that they can trust you to hold their own personal information in confidence. I suggest that if someone wishes to receive cards from their work colleagues they will find some way of letting them know when to act.
Previous HR and Payroll tips:

March 2007
Making notes in disciplinary proceedings
Discipline and the police
Analysing poor performance
Resignation in a temper
Implied terms of contract

February 2007
Issuing contracts of employment
Unfair and wrongful dismissal
Bullying boss
Persistent absentees

January 2007
Confidential witness statements
Ending a fixed term contract

2006 tips

2005 tips

HR Zone, 5-Apr-2007
Categories: Employment Law
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Number of comments: 3

Juliet LeFevre , 15 April 2007 @ 15:09 PM
not entirely true

"and should not be revealed unless there is a strict business need to know"...this is inaccurate, the data most be stored and used in line with the 7 principles. The first principle is that data mustnt be used for purposes other than those stated. Therefore if the reason stated is to ascertain/track/monitor the ages of staff then it is ok to use it for that, if the reason given is to celebrate birthdays then that is also ok to release it. The issue of a 'strict business need' isnt the point its the adherence to the principles that count.

Juliet LeFevre , 10 April 2007 @ 07:33 AM
Security checks

Ephrosene has I point, I take issue with site "re-check" my address and phone number for "security purposes" or "Data Protection". There is nothing secure or secret about my address or phone number, any Tom, Dick or Harry can look them up - the firm simply wants to ensure I havent moved in case there is a debt problem - but security its not!

Euphrosene Labon , 06 April 2007 @ 07:41 AM
online corporate sites asking date of birth
Euphrosene Labon
This is almost on the same subject:
Online sites (like Boots, M&S, Next and a few others will not even let you process an order until they have your actual date of birth. A simple 'tick if over 18' is not sufficient.
As it is hardly a protective mechanism these days, it must be for marketing purposes and surely is now illegal. Yet still the requirement remains.
What really galls is that it is asked before you even get to your shopping basket!
Needless to say, I have never bought online from these stores as I feel it is ageist.
Euphrosene