Anyone know anything about GDPR?

[Chickenfeed67]

I’ve googled but I can’t seem to find the answer - a client owes me money and is throwing her toys out of the pram when sent reminders.

She is making a complaint to my agency bosses (which will do nothing because the fact is, she owes me money!) but in the meantime has asked me to remove all contact details from my records and I must not contact her again due to GDPR. Is this a thing?! Surely GDPR doesn’t prevent someone sending an email?

Surely GDPR doesn’t prevent someone sending an email?

It can do but not in this case as your 'business' with her hasn't finished.

She is making a complaint to my agency bosses (which will do nothing because the fact is, she owes me money!)

well presumably she thinks you did shit work for her and she has grounds not to pay you

Just communicate via the agency and let them work as a middle man

as clearly nothing is going to be resolved between you and her

Take her to small claims court, once that concludes you can oblige her with her GDPR request. Until the money is paid you don't need to erase her records.

If they gave your their email address themselves then You are using her email address for the purpose it is intended, to contact her regarding your business. Tell her you will delete it once you have been paid as you no longer need it.
If you got it from a 3rd party and her contract is with them then that is not ok and they should chase on your behalf

She cannot ask you to remove any details that you need to he able to run your business which includes financial info. In fact you are unable to delete that info for several years in case regulatory bodies such as hmrc ask for it (proof of invoice for example)

the exact wording etc is saved on my computer at work but it’s specifically covered.

you should however have a privacy notice/policy if you are invoicing her direct (or you can choose to use your agencies one). Get that sorted asap.

You're allowed to keep their details on record until the debt issue is resolved.

After that she can invoke her "right to be forgotten".

But it should be pointed out that this right is not absolute and cannot be applied in all situations.

Otherwise everyone would be requesting the right to be forgotten with debt agencies.

Thank you all! I didn’t think it was possible. Hopefully my agency will deal with it, but in the event they don’t, I’ll certainly contact her.

It’s nothing to do with shit work, she just didn’t like being chased for payment, and I suspect is just trying it on and trying to get out of paying. She hasn’t complained about the work done.

You can keep her data under "legitimate interest" until such time as she pays for the services provided.

So her complaint is

“I am being asked to pay”

🤔

Are you employed by the agency?

Believe it or not, yes. Unfortunately one of her emails went into my spam box, I didn’t see it, and so given I’d sent 2 reminders and then went to our next stage email (if I do not hear from you, I will contact my agency who many contact debt collectors on my behalf) and so she feels her email was unjustly ignored, hence her complaint. But I can’t email her to explain about her email ending up in my spam box as she’s asked me not to contact her!

No, I’m not employed, I’m licensed by them and they find me work but I invoice myself.

I’m so intrigued re the line of work!

Very, very ordinary, I’m afraid!

Cleaner?

It’s very common for businesses to not pay invoices and sadly why many go out of business

Yes

but that wasn’t my point

so her complaint isn’t that she’s being asked to pay. Nor is it that she wasn’t happy with your work OP

It is… what? That you sent a reminder referring to debt collection when she had replied but it had been sent to your spam? What did her reply say?

Firstly, you have a contractual relationship with her because she owes you money for providing your services. The right to erasure/right to be forgotten doesn't apply where the lawful basis for processing is 'contractual obligation'.

Secondly, for those PPs who said you should honour the request once the debt is paid, that isn't necessarily true either. Financial record keeping requirements e.g. for tax purposes could mean OP has a legal obligation to retain records for 6+ years.

OP - if this individual has specifically asked you to delete their data and not contact them again, then they're exercising their right to erasure and right to object. It isn't as simple as just not emailing them again, there's a regulatory obligation to acknowledge their requests and ultimately explain, as per the above, why you won't be honouring them.

I’d strongly advise you read and implement this OP https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/advice-for-small-organisations/your-beginner-s-guide-to-data-protection/

The right to be forgotten only works if Consent was used as a lawful reason to record the details.

I would assume that Contract was the lawful reason - so she does not have the right to be forgotten.

You are using her details for the lawful reason they were collected.

Thank you, this is all really useful.