Court case II SA/Rz 1539/21 – Court Ruling (Poland, 2022)
General GDPR enforcement action
This case relates to broader data protection obligations, not specifically to cookie or consent banner compliance. It is not included in cookie statistics or the Risk Calculator.
A Polish court ruled that a public school director was wrong to withhold employee salary details, saying it should be public information. The court found that while privacy is important, transparency about public spending takes precedence. This ruling could affect how public institutions handle personal data requests.
What happened
The court ruled that the public school director should disclose employee salary information as it is considered public information.
Who was affected
Members of the public education board whose salary information was requested.
What the authority found
The Provincial Administrative Court in Rzeszów decided that salary information of public employees should be disclosed because it is public information.
Why this matters
This case highlights the balance between privacy and transparency in public institutions. It suggests that public bodies may need to be more open about how they spend public funds, even if it involves personal data.
GDPR Articles Cited
The Director of a public school was requested to provide a comprehensive set of information related to the members of its public education board. The information requested included, inter alia, the name, age, completed academic education, position held, and remuneration. The Director provided the information requested, but refused to disclose the members' remuneration, claiming that the provision of this information would violate the employee's privacy and data protection rights. Upon request to review the decision, the Director upheld it. The Director explained that information related to the expenditures of a public body on the remuneration of its employees is indeed public information, but that this did not imply that the employees would consent to the publication of their names and individual remuneration. Referring to a decision of the Polish Supreme Court in case [https://orzeczenia.nsa.gov.pl/doc/389F848379 I OSK 695/14], the Director pointed out that what is considered public information is the amount of public funds allocated to a given position as a base salary, not the exact remuneration a particular person receives (which may include many other elements, such as social benefits, deductions, etc.) The claimant appealed this decision with the Head of the Municipality, which in turn upheld the contested decision, pointing out that individual remuneration attached to a specific name is personal data under Article 4(1) GDPR. Additionally, the Head of the Municipality maintained that according to Article 11 of the Polish Labour Code, an employer is obliged to respect the rights and dignity of employees, including their right to privacy, and therefore to keep salary information secret. In view of the above, the claimaint filed a complaint before the The Provincial Administrative Court in Rzeszów (Wojewódzki Sąd Administracyjny w Rzeszowie - WSA Rzeszów). The WSA Rzeszów overturned the decision from the Head of the Municipality. The court held that the remun
Outcome
Court Ruling
A ruling by a national court on a data-protection matter.
Related Cases (0)
No other cases found for Court case II SA/Rz 1539/21 in PL
This is the only recorded case for this entity in this jurisdiction.
Details
About this data
Cite as: Cookie Fines. Court case II SA/Rz 1539/21 - Poland (2022). Retrieved from cookiefines.eu
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