A Study On The Protection Of The Employee’s Right To Privacy In Europe

With the development of science technology,the risk to personal privacy is growing.In the work place,the problem is even complicated.Although the discussion about the protection on privacy is heated at home and abroad,the discussion within the domain of labour law in our country is silent.In Europe,the protection to the right to privacy can be date back to the European Convention on Human Rights which is drafted in the 1950 s.Along with the improvement of technology,as well as the need of European integration,a full set of legal system has been born in Europe.At first,the right to privacy in Europe was protected as a part of human right.An individual’s private life should be respected.The range of private life was first being expanded to the work place in a case in 1992.Then,the Europeans started to develop their protection of privacy in work place.Generally,with the development of the times,the protection range was continuously expanded.In order to decide whether a certain act constitutes an infringement of private life,the first step is to decide whether the individual has reasonable expectations of privacy;however,even if there is no such expectation,it does not necessarily mean that there is no infringement.Secondly,when the count is satisfied that the act constitutes an infringement,it will further decide whether the infringement can be justified.In order to be justified,the act should be in accordance with the law(however this does not necessarily mean that there should be a legislation,what is essential is whether there is a balanced set of norm which can protect employee’s privacy)and has a legitimate aim which is necessary in a democratic society.The court will balance the interest of both sides to decide whether the act is reasonable.In response to development of technology,the Europe had further developed its method of data protection to protect the right to privacy.The data controller can process the data only if it can meet certain conditions.In the work place,this mainly involves the balance of interest,which is in analogy with the method of European Court of Human Rights.Meanwhile,the Europeans hold a suspicious attitude towards the consent of employees.Comparing to remedy afterward,the European method of data protection inclines to provide protection beforehand.Although it is worth to use the institution in Europe for reference,the different understanding of privacy between different jurisdictions should be bore in mind.As to the understanding of the right to privacy,there are differences between China and the Europe.The right to privacy in China,comparing to the Europe which see it as a part of human right,is simply a kind of specific personality right.The problem in China now is that the standard of civil remedy is unclear,the administrative remedy does not work well,while the criminal law is too strict.In order to establish the rule of law,the right to privacy and data protection should be standardized,the consent of employees should be admitted under particular conditions,and finally,the internal system in company to protect employees’ right to privacy should be established.