Employers banned from monitoring staff sleep patterns

The movement and sleep pattern data of employees has been branded “personal” in a decision by The Netherlands Data Protection Authority.

The authority handed down their decision on March 8, stating that employers could no longer monitor their staff’s sleep patterns or fitness via “wearables” such as Fitbits – even if the staff consented.

Their decision relies on an argument that employees are likely to feel pressured to say yes to the monitoring, even if they are given the option to opt out.

Since “the worker is financially dependent on the employer”,  the decision states, there's no “free consent”  and that means employers processing this kind of staff data is in breach of the country's data protection legislation, The Register reports.