Member Article

It is ****illegal**** for a company to ****refuse**** to provide ****benefits**** (e.g., ****voluntary medical insurance****) due to an ****employee's failure**** to provide ****consent**** to the processing of personal data.

This was the conclusion reached by the 3rd Cassation Court of General Jurisdiction in ****Resolution No. 88-1047/2024 dated 15 January 2024****.

Key facts of the case

Per the employment contract, employees agreed to comply with all ****the requirements**** of the employer’s ****Internal Labour Regulations**** and other ****in-house policies****. In accordance with the ****Policy on Additional Benefits for Employees****, employees were eligible to receive benefits if they provide written ****consent**** to the processing of their personal data. In the absence of such consent, the benefits for employees could be ****suspended****.

An employee who was reinstated at work and ****did not provide**** consent to the processing of personal data filed a claim in court to require the company to provide ****voluntary medical insurance****.

All three court instances (district court, appellate court and court of general jurisdiction) ****supported the employee****, pointing out that legislation on personal data stipulates that the subject of personal data has the right to grant consent to the processing of such data. However, such consent must be provided ****exclusively voluntarily****. Whether or not a ****personal data subject**** exercises his/her rights ****cannot be made dependent**** on exercising the right to receive additional benefits provided to an employee as part of employment relations.

As a result, the courts satisfied the employee's claims to require the employer to provide ****voluntary medical insurance**** on the terms of the existing in-house policy ****no later than 3 business days**** from the date on which the court decision takes effect.

Claims

To require an employer to provide voluntary medical insurance, recover the amount of food subsidies, provide compensation for delayed payments, provide annual paid leave, and provide compensation for moral damages

Resolution

To uphold the decisions of the lower court instances and dismiss the cassation appeal