Employee Temperature Control

Once again, COVID-19 puts data protection at risk . protection of personal data data protection, with the Employee Temperature Control.

In any circumstance, and in general, we must ask ourselves the following questions what the protected legal good is and whether the principle of proportionality is being applied appropriately.

If we transfer this to an emergency situation, it becomes even more important to review these parameters.

In order to prevent new infections of coronavirus and the spread of the disease, many companies have decided to implement temperature controls at the beginning of the working day at the entrance of their facilities.

The most frequent questions that arise, as a result of the queries received at our headquarters in Valencia, are the following:

Is body temperature a protected personal data?

Can my company force this temperature control on me?

What happens if my temperature is not adequate?

The first thing to make clear is that body temperature is a personal data, since it refers to our state of health, and therefore, it is a data considered of special character, according to article 9 of the LOPDGDD. LOPDGDD.

The taking of temperature at the entrance of workplaces can be revealed as a practice that generates an abrupt interference in our personal sphere, since this special category data is made public at the moment that the entrance is prevented as a result of an inadequate temperature, generating an idea in others that we may be infected, and the possible rejection that this may produce towards our person.

Let’s be clear that companies can ask their workers to submit to temperature control, in order to prevent the spread of the disease, so refusing to do so could be considered a sufficient element to deny entry to the facilities.

However, even though companies should take all possible measures to ensure a healthy work environment, before adopting this temperature control measure, it is important to take into account some aspects such as the following:

Prior evaluation with the occupational risk prevention company on the need or not to carry out temperature control, in addition to the other safety measures already implemented to prevent the spread of the virus in the facilities.
If the measure is finally necessary, workers must be informed of it, and it is recommended that they sign the informative document.
The personnel performing the task of temperature monitoring must be qualified and trained in the areas of health and data protection.
The means used for temperature control must provide sufficient guarantees regarding their operation and the reliability of their results.
The maximum period of conservation of the temperature record will be limited.

In the words of the AEPD, the use of devices to record the temperature of individuals involves the processing of special categories of data that must respect the principles of legality, purpose limitation and accuracy.

If your company has decided to implement this measure or is in the process of implementing it, please contact us to let you know the steps to follow in order to comply with the Data Protection Regulation in its entirety.

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