GDPR in HR: Processing Employee Data

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) does not apply solely to commercial relationships between a company and its customers: it also governs, with great precision, the processing of employees' personal data. Recruitment, payroll management, access control, performance evaluation, video surveillance… each stage of the employment contract lifecycle generates personal data that the employer must process in strict compliance with European law. With fines reaching up to 20 million euros or 4% of annual global turnover, the stakes are considerable. This article details the applicable legal bases, the practical obligations of HR departments and best practices for securing your processing — including when dematerialising HR documents.

The Legal Foundations of HR Data Processing

The Legal Bases Permitted Under Employment Law

GDPR lists six legal bases for processing personal data (Article 6). In an HR context, three of these are mobilised almost systematically:

• Performance of the employment contract (Art. 6.1.b): constitutes the primary basis for payroll management, time tracking, delivery of payslips or management of leave.

• Legal obligation (Art. 6.1.c): justifies processing required by labour law or social legislation, such as pre-employment declaration (DPAE), nominative social declaration (DSN) or maintenance of the register of personnel.

• Legitimate interest (Art. 6.1.f): may underpin certain IT security or internal fraud prevention processing, provided this interest is not outweighed by employees' fundamental rights.

⚠️ The consent basis must be handled with extreme caution in an employment context. The CNIL regularly reminds that the inherent imbalance in the employer-employee relationship rarely makes consent "free" in the sense of Article 7 of GDPR. Relying on consent for processing that could be based on another legal basis exposes the employer to a risk of reclassification.

Special Categories of Data: An Enhanced Regime

Certain data collected by HR departments fall under the regime of "sensitive data" referred to in Article 9 of GDPR, the processing of which is in principle prohibited except in cases of exception:

• Health data: sick leave, unfitness pronounced by occupational health services, post adjustments for disability.

• Trade union data: union membership, representative mandates.

• Biometric data: access control via fingerprint or facial recognition.

• Data relating to offences: verification of criminal records, authorised only in regulated sectors (security, childcare, etc.).

For these categories, the employer must identify an explicit exception (Art. 9.2), conduct a data protection impact assessment (DPIA) in most cases, and often consult the CNIL before deployment.

Practical Obligations of HR Departments

The Register of Processing Activities

Any organisation employing more than 250 employees is required to maintain a register of processing activities (Art. 30 of GDPR). Below this threshold, the obligation remains where processing is not occasional or involves sensitive data — which is almost always the case in HR. This register must document:

• The purpose of each processing (e.g., "payroll management")

• The categories of data concerned

• The recipients (third parties, processors, authorities)

• Retention periods

• The security measures implemented

The CNIL provides a freely downloadable register template. Its rigorous maintenance constitutes the first line of defence in the event of inspection.

Retention Periods: Often Overlooked

Article 5.1.e of GDPR imposes the principle of storage limitation: data must not be retained beyond the duration necessary for the purpose for which it was collected. In HR, the standard reference periods are as follows:

| Type of Data | Recommended Retention Period | |---|---| | Payslip | 5 years (civil prescription) | | Employment Contract | 5 years after contract termination | | Recruitment Data (unsuccessful candidate) | Maximum 2 years after last contact | | Disciplinary File | Variable duration depending on sanction (max. 3 years for a warning) | | Video Surveillance Data | 1 month as a rule | | DSN and Personnel Register | 5 years after employee departure |

These periods must be recorded in the register and applied through purging or final archiving procedures.

Information for Employees: An Often Underestimated Obligation

Article 13 of GDPR requires providing a complete information notice to the data subjects at the time their data is collected. In HR, this notice should ideally be provided:

• At the application stage: for data collected during the recruitment process.

• At hiring: integrated into the employment contract or provided as an annex upon signature.

• During the contractual relationship: at each new processing implemented (e.g., deployment of a biometric timekeeping system).

Dematerialisation of the onboarding process, in particular via electronic signature for HR, facilitates traceability of this information provision: the date of reading and signature of the notice is timestamped in a probative manner, which constitutes valuable evidence in case of dispute.

Security of HR Data: Technical and Organisational Measures

Encryption, Access Control and Compartmentalisation

Article 32 of GDPR requires the implementation of security measures appropriate to the risk. For HR data, which are by nature sensitive and targeted during breaches, minimum best practices include:

• Encryption of data at rest and in transit: payroll files, contracts and personal files must be stored encrypted (AES-256 minimum) and transmitted via secure protocols (TLS 1.3).

• Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): only authorised HR managers access payroll data; the team manager accesses only data necessary for management.

• Access logging: any consultation or modification of an employee file must be traced with the user identifier, date and time.

• Pseudonymisation for analytical processing (HR dashboards, compensation studies).

Management of HR Subprocessors

HR departments use numerous subprocessors: HRIS editors, outsourced payroll providers, training platforms, online recruitment tools. Each of these third parties must be the subject of a subprocessing contract compliant with Article 28 of GDPR, specifying in particular:

• The nature and purpose of the processing subcontracted

• The subprocessor's obligations regarding security and confidentiality

• The prohibition on further subprocessing without prior authorisation

• The modalities for data restitution or destruction at end of contract

When selecting a provider, you should also verify whether their servers are located in the European Economic Area (EEA) or whether an adequate transfer mechanism (standard contractual clauses, adequacy decision) is in place for transfers outside the EEA.

Dematerialisation of HR Documents and GDPR Compliance

The increasing digitalisation of HR processes — electronic employment contracts, dematerialised payslips, amendments signed remotely — raises specific GDPR issues. Whilst eIDAS-compliant electronic signature provides undeniable guarantees of integrity and authenticity, the employer must ensure that the platform used:

• Does not collect superfluous data during the signature process (minimisation principle, Art. 5.1.c)

• Preserves proof of signature (audit trail) under secure conditions and for an appropriate period

• Allows signatories to exercise their rights (access, rectification, erasure within legal limits)

For further information on compliance of signature tools, the complete guide to electronic signature from Certyneo details the technical and legal criteria to verify before any deployment.

Employee Rights and Their Effective Exercise

Overview of Rights Guaranteed by GDPR

Employees benefit from all rights provided for in Articles 15 to 22 of GDPR. In an HR context, the most frequently exercised rights are:

• Right of access (Art. 15): the employee can request a copy of all data concerning them held by the employer, including professional email exchanges under certain conditions.

• Right to rectification (Art. 16): correction of inaccurate data (error in bank details, diploma incorrectly entered, etc.).

• Right to erasure (Art. 17): limited in HR by legal retention obligations, but applicable to recruitment data of an unsuccessful candidate.

• Right to object (Art. 21): can be exercised against processing based on legitimate interest, such as certain surveillance processing.

• Right to data portability (Art. 20): applicable to data provided by the employee themselves in the context of performance of the contract.

Response Time and Internal Procedures

The employer has one month to respond to any request to exercise rights, a period extendable to three months in case of complexity or high volume of requests (Art. 12.3). To efficiently organise this processing, it is recommended to:

• Designate a single point of contact (DPO or GDPR officer) to receive requests

• Implement a dedicated form accessible to employees

• Document each request and response in a register of rights exercise requests

• Train HR managers to identify an implicit request (an employee requesting "their personal file" is effectively exercising their right of access)

The Role of the DPO in the Company

GDPR imposes the appointment of a Data Protection Officer (DPO) in three cases (Art. 37): public authority, large-scale processing of sensitive data, or systematic large-scale monitoring. Many companies whose HR processing is significant fall within this obligation. The DPO may be internal or outsourced; they must have functional independence and be involved in all decisions affecting data protection, including the deployment of new HR digital tools. Their role is advisory and not decision-making: ultimate responsibility remains with the controller, i.e., the employer.

Legal Framework Applicable to HR Data Processing

GDPR: The Founding Text

The Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 (GDPR) constitutes the regulatory foundation for personal data processing in Europe. Directly applicable in all Member States since 25 May 2018, it applies to any employer processing data of employees residing in the EU, regardless of the company's nationality. The main articles applicable in an HR context are:

• Art. 5: fundamental principles (lawfulness, fairness, transparency, minimisation, accuracy, storage limitation, integrity and confidentiality, accountability)

• Art. 6: legal bases for processing

• Art. 9: regime for sensitive data

• Art. 12 to 22: rights of data subjects

• Art. 24 to 32: obligations of the controller and processor

• Art. 33-34: notification of data breaches (72 hours to CNIL, and information to individuals if high risk)

• Art. 35: impact assessment (DPIA) mandatory for high-risk processing

• Art. 83: administrative penalties (up to 20 million euros or 4% of global turnover)

The French Data Protection Act Modified

Under French law, the Act no. 78-17 of 6 January 1978 on data protection and databases, amended by Act no. 2018-493 of 20 June 2018 and Ordinance no. 2018-1125 of 12 December 2018, supplements GDPR by opening national discretionary areas ("exemption clauses"). Among the most important in HR: the possibility of processing trade union data in the context of management of employee representative bodies (Art. 9 of the Act), or specific rules for processing occupational health data.

The Labour Code and Social Case Law

The Labour Code imposes obligations of information and prior consultation of the Social and Economic Committee (CSE) before any deployment of employee monitoring or control devices (Art. L. 2312-38). Failure to consult exposes the employer to inadmissibility of evidence collected and criminal penalties.

The jurisprudence of the Court of Cassation regularly reminds that monitoring tools (geolocation, access badges, activity tracking software) must be proportionate to the objective pursued and cannot be diverted to purposes other than those declared to employees and the CNIL.

Electronic Signature of HR Documents: eIDAS and Civil Code

When dematerialising employment contracts, amendments or disciplinary documents, the employer must comply with Regulation (EU) No. 910/2014 eIDAS, which defines three levels of electronic signature. For documents as important as a fixed-term employment contract or a severance agreement, an advanced electronic signature (or even a qualified one) is recommended to guarantee the identity of the signatory and the integrity of the document. The Civil Code in Articles 1366 and 1367 establishes the evidentiary value of electronic documents and electronic signatures, subject to reliable identification of the signatory and assurance of integrity.

Penalties Imposed by the CNIL on HR Data Processing

The CNIL has imposed several significant penalties on HR data processing: in 2022, a company was fined 400,000 euros for excessive surveillance of remote working employees via screen capture software. In 2023, a security company was penalised 200,000 euros for excessive collection of biometric data without a valid legal basis. These decisions illustrate the regulator's growing vigilance on this scope.

Use Cases: GDPR HR in Practice

Case 1 — A Mid-Sized Industrial Company with 450 Employees Brings Its Recruitment Process Into Compliance

A mid-sized industrial company employing approximately 450 people across three sites received over 3,000 unsolicited applications per year and responded to about sixty job postings. CVs and cover letters were stored indefinitely in a shared email inbox among six department heads. No information notice was provided to candidates about the use of their data.

Following a GDPR audit, the following actions were deployed over six months:

• Migration to an ATS (Applicant Tracking System) certified GDPR compliant, with automatic purging of files after 24 months of inactivity

• Addition of a GDPR information notice in each online application form

• Electronic signature of offer letters and employment contracts via an eIDAS-compliant platform, reducing the average time for signed contract returns from 8 days to less than 48 hours

• Update of the register of processing activities with 12 new HR processing sheets

Result: no CNIL requests received in the following 18 months; estimated savings of 1.2 FTE in recruitment administrative management thanks to dematerialisation.

Case 2 — A Distribution Group with 1,200 Employees Frames Its Video Surveillance Policy

A group specialising in food distribution had deployed a video surveillance system covering 34 retail outlets. Images were retained for 45 days at certain sites, without information posted for employees. Several cameras covered checkout positions on a permanent basis, generating a risk of disproportionate surveillance.

Following an employee complaint to the CNIL, the company engaged in a compliance overhaul including:

• Reduction of retention period to maximum 30 days across all sites

• Repositioning of cameras to exclude continuous surveillance of individual work stations

• Consultation and agreement of the central CSE before any new deployment

• Systematic information of employees via employment contracts and an internal charter displayed

Result: closure of the CNIL complaint without penalty; improvement in social climate measured in the following annual satisfaction survey (+11 points on the "trust in employer" item).

Case 3 — An HR Consulting Firm Outsources and Secures Data Transfers with Its Clients

A firm specialising in payroll outsourcing and personnel administration managed employee files for about twenty SME clients, representing approximately 1,800 payslips monthly. Payroll files were transmitted by unencrypted email, without a formalised subprocessing contract under Article 28 of GDPR.

The firm engaged in a complete overhaul of its practices:

• Signature of Data Processing Agreements (DPA) compliant with Article 28 with each of its clients, via an advanced electronic signature platform allowing traceability

• Implementation of a secure client portal (TLS encryption + two-factor authentication) for deposit and retrieval of payroll files

• Hosting of data on servers located in France, certified HDS for occupational health data

• Drafting of a subprocessing policy governing recourse to third parties (payroll software editor, archiver)

Result: 100% reduction in transmission of HR data by unencrypted email; acquisition of two new client contracts that made GDPR compliance a mandatory selection criterion in their tenders.

Conclusion

GDPR in HR is not merely an additional administrative burden: it is a lever of trust between employer and employees, and a competitive factor in a labour market where transparency is increasingly valued. A processing register kept up to date, controlled retention periods, formalised employee information, enhanced security of sensitive data and contractualised processors: each of these pillars contributes to building an HR policy that is both legal and responsible.

Dematerialisation of HR documents — contracts, amendments, payslips, information notices — offers a unique opportunity to combine GDPR compliance and operational efficiency, provided you rely on certified tools. Certyneo supports you in this approach with an eIDAS-compliant electronic signature solution, designed for HR teams. Discover our pricing and start your free trial on Certyneo to secure your HR documents today.