Public Employment Service Austria (respondent in the initial trial before the DSB) – Court Ruling (Austria, 2023)
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Austria's Public Employment Service uses an algorithm to help job counselors assess jobseekers' chances of finding work. The algorithm considers various personal factors but does not include motivation or personal circumstances. This ruling shows that even public services must carefully consider how they use personal data.
What happened
The Public Employment Service in Austria developed an algorithm to calculate jobseekers' employment probabilities based on personal data.
Who was affected
Jobseekers in Austria whose data was used to assess their labor market opportunities.
What the authority found
The court ruled that the Public Employment Service had a valid legal basis for processing personal data under Austrian law.
Why this matters
This case highlights the importance of transparency in how algorithms use personal data. Companies should ensure their data processing practices are clear and compliant with legal standards.
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The Public Employment Service (AMS) is a service provider under public law with its own legal personality, which is responsible for implementing the labour market policy of the federal government. In order to support workers in their (re-)integration into the labour market, it offers various services which are implemented by its counsellors. In order to support counsellors in assessing the labour market opportunities of jobseekers, the AMS has developed a concept for calculating the labour market opportunities of jobseekers (AMAS). In concrete terms, AMAS uses an algorithm to automatically calculate the probability of currently registered customers being employed for a certain number of days within a certain period in the future. For this purpose, a so-called IC is calculated from the following data: age group, sex, Group of States, Education, Health impairment, Caring duties, professional group, pre-career, Regional labour market performance, Duration of the business case at the AMS. Based on the calculated IC, a classification is made into the following groups: Service clients with high labour market opportunities, care clients with low labour market opportunities, Counselling clients with medium labour market opportunities. The results of the AMAS ought to be used in the guidance process and be a starting point for the counsellors to determine, together with the client, the optimal support strategy (subsidies and support services). The final decision on the assignment to a client group is always made by the counsellors. Originally, the Data Protection Authority (DSB) initiated an ex officio investigation into the matter and concluded that, the AMS was prohibited from processing data with the help of the AMAS with effect from 1 January 2021, unless there is a suitable legal basis for the data processing. In the contested decision, the Austrian Federal Administrative Court held that the Public Employment Service could lawfully process personal data belonging to jo
Outcome
Court Ruling
A ruling by a national court on a data-protection matter.
Related Cases (0)
No other cases found for Public Employment Service Austria (respondent in the initial trial before the DSB) in AT
This is the only recorded case for this entity in this jurisdiction.
Details
About this data
Cite as: Cookie Fines. Public Employment Service Austria (respondent in the initial trial before the DSB) - Austria (2023). Retrieved from cookiefines.eu
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