On November 13, 2023, the Jersey Office of the Information Commissioner (JOIC) published a public statement in which it imposed a formal reprimand to Brenwal Limited, for violations of the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018 (the Law), following an inquiry.

Background to the public statement

In particular, the JOIC noted that the case involved tracking an employee during working hours, where the employee was unaware that such surveillance was taking place until Brenwal raised performance issues. In particular, the JOIC highlighted that it was found that a tracker had been secretly placed on an employee's work vehicle to check where they were during the day.

Findings of the JOIC

Further to the above, the JOIC found that Brenwal should not have carried out the covert monitoring of the employee. It was not necessary and they had no lawful basis to do so which was a contravention of Article 8(1)(a) of the Law. The JOIC also found that Brenwal lacked the relevant transparency information required by Article 12(1) of the Law and that Brenwal should have, in advance, made their staff aware that they could be subject to monitoring.

Outcomes

In conclusion, the JOIC issued a formal reprimand and made a number of orders pursuant to Article 25(3) of the Law regarding the education of Brenwal's staff, review and updating of their processes, and deleting all personal data relating to the tracking of the employee.

You can read the press release here and the public statement here.