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Dutch Companies Not Allowed To Fitness-Track Their Employees (www.nu.nl)

Posted by timothy on from the tell-that-to-the-IRS dept.

An anonymous reader writes: The Dutch Privacy Authority made it known today that companies are not allowed to gather their employees' health data from wearable devices [original, in Dutch] such as the Fitbit. Of the two companies that were mentioned in this case, one of them had access to employee sleep patterns. In both cases the employees had given their employers permission to use this data. However, according to the Privacy Authority it is impossible to truly give 'free consent' when there is a 'financial dependency.'

3 of 173 comments (clear)

  1. Government intrusion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative

    I cannot for the life of me fathom why someone would not be allowed to voluntarily provide data. Thank God I live in the USA.

    1. Re:Government intrusion by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Informative

      Because saying "no, you may not monitor my health" to your employer may have negative consequences and puts the employee in a difficult position. It's the same reason why we have maximum working hours and minimum wage. In theory each individual could freely decide to agree to more hours or less money, but in practice the balance of power between employer and employee favours the former and so we want the law to compensate.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  2. Re:finally some sanity! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    If by virtue of your employment (job), an employer is required to provide for your healthcare expenses, then they are asking you for something that is job-related if they ask for fitness data.

    I happen to think this is a good argument for not requiring employers to provide for your healthcare expenses.

    Exactly. Fortunately, in the Netherlands your boss has nothing* to do with your health insurance. I've always found the American system completely insane, having friends lose insurance simply because they are fired. You don't want your boss to provide you with housing or holidays, why would s/he have anything to do with your health insurance? That only causes trouble like Christian employers not wanting to cover contraception/abortion and things like this where your sleeping or eating habits suddenly because a rightful concern of your employer

    *) they can offer collectively bargain insurance, which can have slightly lower premiums, but it's usually something like 10 euro per month max. Also, they have some liability for you if you call in sick, which is justified on the grounds that sick leave is very often work related (stress, accidents)