Court case IV SA/Wr 671/22 – Court Ruling (Poland, 2023)
General GDPR enforcement action
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A Polish court ruled that teachers' salaries are personal data and should not be disclosed as public information. This decision is important for understanding how privacy laws protect employee data, even for public sector workers.
What happened
A court decided that teachers' salary information is protected as personal data and cannot be disclosed publicly.
Who was affected
Teachers and administrative staff whose salary information was requested as part of public information.
What the authority found
The court ruled that teachers' salaries are personal data protected under GDPR, as they do not perform public functions.
Why this matters
This ruling clarifies that even public sector employees' salary information is protected under privacy laws. Organizations should be cautious about disclosing employee data, ensuring compliance with GDPR.
GDPR Articles Cited
National Law Articles
The plaintiff made a request for access to information relating to the minutes of an inspection carried out at a school by the State Labour Inspectorate. The school’s principal (the defendant) provided the plaintiff with documents relating to the inspection. However, they did not provide certain annexes, which formed an integral part of the inspection documentation. When asked about this, the defendant explained that the missing annexes contained information on the salary of teachers. In their view, this constituted sensitive data and, for this reason, could not be shared. The plaintiff appealed to an appeal body in the municipality. The appeal body recalled that in accordance with [https://sip.lex.pl/akty-prawne/dzu-dziennik-ustaw/dostep-do-informacji-publicznej-16913107/art-5 Article 5(1) of the Polish Act on Access to Public Information], access to public information may be restricted to ensure privacy and protect personal data. The Polish Act on Access to Public Information is one of the national laws that regulates the access to public information and the protection of personal data under Article 86 GDPR. However, the restriction under its [https://sip.lex.pl/akty-prawne/dzu-dziennik-ustaw/dostep-do-informacji-publicznej-16913107/art-5 Article 5(1) of the Polish Act on Access to Public Information] does not apply to persons performing public functions ([https://sip.lex.pl/akty-prawne/dzu-dziennik-ustaw/dostep-do-informacji-publicznej-16913107/art-5 Article 5(2) Polish Act on Access to Public Information]). The appeal body held that it was crucial to determine whether a teacher qualifies as a public body or as exercising public function. Then, the protection under the GDPR with regards to their salary, would not apply. The appellate authority concluded that teachers and administrative staff do not perform public function and, therefore, their salary is protected as personal data relating to the material status of an individual under the GDPR. The plaintiff a
Outcome
Court Ruling
A ruling by a national court on a data-protection matter.
Related Cases (0)
No other cases found for Court case IV SA/Wr 671/22 in PL
This is the only recorded case for this entity in this jurisdiction.
Details
About this data
Cite as: Cookie Fines. Court case IV SA/Wr 671/22 - Poland (2023). Retrieved from cookiefines.eu
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