Public area maintenance company – €4,290 Fine (Hungary, 2019)

An ex-employee complained that his employer unlawfully monitored his work by its CCTV. The employer argued that CCTV monitoring was necessary to assess, whether the employee fulfilled his employment related duties (i.e. monitoring certain public areas and signalling any unusual event to his colleagues) and that the monitoring also served the protection of its surveillance system from unlawful access or usage. NAIH found that monitoring of the employee by CCTV is not an appropriate way of assessing his work performance and the employer relied on an inappropriate legal basis (public interest, official authority) regarding the CCTV operations. The employer could have protected its public area surveillance system by other methods (e.g. by installing firewalls or other security upgrades to its systems). The employer also placed only a brief notice sheet at the entrance of the workstation of the employee regarding the CCTV monitoring, which NAIH deemed insufficient.