The fundamental right of data protection of workers and the impact of new technologies in the workplace in Spain

Abstract

Objectives: The objective of this work is to analyze the requirements that the company must meet and the limits it has when exercising its power of control through technological means in accordance with the legislation and the criteria established by jurisprudence to for this purpose, so that the rights and guarantees of workers are respected.

Methodology: The worker's guarantees will be studied in relation to the implementation of new technologies in the workplace, and the employer's power of control and management power recognized in article 20 of the Workers' Statute will be delimited in relation to the protection of personal data in the use of new technologies and electronic devices in relation to the right to privacy.

Results: In the current scenario of technological innovation, there has been an increase in the manipulation and distribution of personal data that is collected using electronic devices and the Internet, giving rise to phenomena such as Big Data, which can lead to important privacy issues.

Conclusions: The approval of the General Data Protection Regulation is transferred to the Spanish legal system with Organic Law 3/2018 on the Protection of Personal Data and Guarantees of Digital Rights, which develops article 18 of the Spanish Constitution and whose most relevant incorporation It is the safeguarding of the fundamental rights to privacy and data protection of workers in the application of business control and surveillance techniques through new technologies, so that the processing of workers' data is legal.