Hi,the names Jo and I am new on here.
I live in Leeds but my boyfriend lives in South Yorks area and his sister told me about this forum and from I have seen it looks good!
I need to find some info regarding a personal work file that my boyfriend has obtained and when looking through it he found that around six years of his records have disappeared.
Do you know what the legal standing is on a company losing such highly confidential notes, what with all the items we read about regarding identitiy theft etc.
A solicitor is obviously being consulted, but we just wondered if any of you people had had a similar experience?
Please let me know if you can help me.

Regards,
Joanne.

May be the employer removed stuff they didnt want uyour bf to know; a lot will depend upon the reasons which prompoteed your bf to get his personel files becuse it's is generally seen as an aggressive step to take. Suggest you call the Information Commission but if you want to make a complaint get the form from tgheir website;

The info comm may pick it up, but perhaps you should ask the company about their retention policy on HR documents. If you want me to go into detail please PM me. You are wasting your money on legal advise if you haven't tried other avenues first.

Thanks 9xyg32 for you help.
I am a little confused at why the company would see a request for work files, which normaly have to be released under the freedom of information act, as an aggresive step to take, please can you inform me why this is?

Okka North,
As I am new on here I can't send a private message to you yet.
From what I can make out all the records were to be released, but on receipt the first few years were included and then the last few years were also there,
but approximately six years from the middle had, as the company stated, gone missing.
Surely all records must be kept in a safe place and kept together.
We obviously want to know what has happened to these items as it is a very serious matter as the file contains various information such as , national insurance number, medical details, pension details etc.

Look forwards to any information either of you or anyone else can help us with.

Thank You,
Joanne.

The info you['re talking about is a subject accdess issue under Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) (section 7.1) which gives everyone the rigfht to accdess personal datga held about them on the files of organisations. Since a recfent case which went to the Couryt of Appeal the rights are not so simple or straightforward and no longer provides the scope of access which was originally intended by the Act when it was first

It is not to be confused with the Freedofm of Info Act (FOIA) which does not provide any rights to access personal data, ie info held on file aout you. This act is only intended ot be used to obtain information from the public sector. It does not apply to private companies but may affect housing assocations if this has not already been implemented.

To answer your question about a Subnject access request being seen as a n aggressive action, is tat although the data apparently can no longer be used in liitgation, it provides useful information about the issues a legal team may wish to consider in bringing a legal action.

In addition it creates a lot of internal work and incorrectly ente4red data must be corrected.

IOf much of the ifle is missing and can be proven it does raise a data security issue which may be quite serious depending upon the natuyre of the missing information.

Hope that ansewrs your queswtion

Thanks 9xyg32 for you help.
I am a little confused at why the company would see a request for work files, which normaly have to be released under the freedom of information act, as an aggresive step to take, please can you inform me why this is?

Okka North,
As I am new on here I can't send a private message to you yet.
From what I can make out all the records were to be released, but on receipt the first few years were included and then the last few years were also there,
but approximately six years from the middle had, as the company stated, gone missing.
Surely all records must be kept in a safe place and kept together.
We obviously want to know what has happened to these items as it is a very serious matter as the file contains various information such as , national insurance number, medical details, pension details etc.

Look forwards to any information either of you or anyone else can help us with.

Thank You,
Joanne.

The info comm may pick it up, but perhaps you should ask the company about their retention policy on HR documents. If you want me to go into detail please PM me. You are wasting your money on legal advise if you haven't tried other avenues first.


Definitely agree with this as a course of action because it will provide more info and restrict them from conducting a damage limitation exercise when referred to the IC.

Thank you again 9xyg32 and okka north for your help.
Sorry I have not replied earlier as I have been quite busy the last couple of days.

Joanne.

Definitely agree with this as a course of action because it will provide more info and restrict them from conducting a damage limitation exercise when referred to the IC.

Going down the legal route will definately up the ante and is likely to further damage relations with the employer.