To ask my employer for compensation for accidentally leaking my pay details?

[salviapurplerain]

Posting here for traffic. I'm part of a group of people being made redundant at the end of this month. As part of the process, every individual in this group has been emailed a financial illustration of what the package will look like. It's a 1 like excel spreadsheet with detailed personal information including gross annual pay and a full breakdown of the exit package.

We have just found out that on one person's spreadsheet, along with that person's financial information, HR accidentally shared all the information for 6 other people! I am one of those people whose information was shared and I'm so upset! This is a breach of confidentiality and data protection surely!

Will I be unreasonable to claim compensation for this?

What good would compensation do? It won’t undo what’s done. That person won’t unsee what they’ve seen. I totally understand wanting to squeeze every last drop out of them for making you redundant (I’ve been made redundant 4 times in my life so I really understand) but don’t burn your bridges just yet. Leave the door open for a possible return. You never know...

OP I think you’re getting treated harshly here. This is personal information and shouldn’t have been shared. There may be grounds for compensation due to emotional distress: but you would need a solicitor for that (and really the legal costs may cost more than any compensation)

@BoomBoomsCousin thank you! Awful attitude and mindsets from people who should be trying to make things better.

Check with the ICO. I think it is a bit optimistic to expect compensation.

@Mammylamb

OP I think you’re getting treated harshly here. This is personal information and shouldn’t have been shared. There may be grounds for compensation due to emotional distress: but you would need a solicitor for that (and really the legal costs may cost more than any compensation)

Thanks you. If it's worth pursuing then I will. I have legal aid/insurance so would not worry too much about the cost.

Not a snowball's chance in hell. What financial loss have you suffered. What loss of any sort have you suffered? No loss = no claim.

"Emotional distress" is clutching at the very thinnest of straws. It'd be laughed out of court.

Legal aid wouldn't cover this type of claim. You may be better off leaving it to the Information Commissioner to deal with.

It is a data breach as it’s identifiable info that has been sent out, and you could report to ICO, but I wouldn’t count on them wanting to investigate a breach of this size I’m afraid, so I doubt you would receive any compensation for this.

@Xenia

Don't rely on the internet. The new data protection laws allow claims even if there is no financial loss. I am not saying you would win anything but as someone said above this is the case now. You could technically bring a small claim for compensation. There are cases emerging under GDPR - see digital.freshfields.com/post/102fth1/can-i-claim-damages-for-hurt-feelings-under-gdpr-an-austrian-court-says-yes

More useful however is seeing what compensation others got - eg if all the men got double the redundancy payments of women even though earning the same that could help you all as a group negotiate more.

Thank you. That is an interesting case. I will be sure to share this with other affected people.

OP I had a complaint upheld by the ICO against an estate agent for inappropriate use of my personal data.
The complaint was upheld and the company found to be in breach of GDPR.
I received an apology. Nothing more. This was despite the circumstances of my case being extremely sensitive.

Jesus, what does it matter.

You're a money grabber.

You have zero grounds for compensation and you sound ridiculous not to mention greedy.

If you're all sharing the information anyway, what are you so concerned about?
Are you definitely being made redundant, or one of an "at risk" group?
If it's the latter, threatening to sue them and being arsey about it will put you at the top of the list to go, not to mention earn you a brilliant reference.

Wonder why you were chosen for redundancy

@ImMoana

OP I had a complaint upheld by the ICO against an estate agent for inappropriate use of my personal data. The complaint was upheld and the company found to be in breach of GDPR. I received an apology. Nothing more. This was despite the circumstances of my case being extremely sensitive.

May I ask how long it took for your case to be "concluded". Just a quick time line from when you reported to when the case was closed please?

You’ll get buttons in compensation if anything.

Report them to the ico and they’ll get a slapped wrist and told to modify their processes so it doesn’t happen again

What does it matter? You are leaving anyway, so what if people can see what you were being paid? Total overreaction, and yes, greedy.

It might be a breach of GDPR, but you're being made redundant. You need these people for references going ahead, no?

@ClareBlue

Wonder why you were chosen for redundancy

Giving you a big fat eye roll because of course that's how redundancies are made. It's not at all related to departments closing or COVID or anything like that.

I'm confused by some of the posts on this thread. This would be a huge no no in the company I work for. It's a GDPR breach, I'm not sure about compensation but they have definitely fucked up.

Salaries are made public when jobs are advertised. You would have no chance and you’d look stupid.

The greedy/money grabbing comment I'm ignoring because it's irrelevant to what the law says. The post is about finding out if me and the other affected people have a case to pursue or not.

So what actual harm had this mistake caused you?
Not what you can pretend or claim, what actual harm?