The Legalities of Collecting Workers’ Diversity Data

London intellectual property partner Huw Beverley-Smith, labor and employment associate Charlotte Marshall and trainee solicitor Elise Lanteri coauthored an article for People Management that explains the circumstances under which businesses are permitted to acquire and use workforce diversity information.

Beverley-Smith, Marshall and Lanteri highlight how under the U.K. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018, data controllers must have a specific legal basis for processing personal data and the personal data must only be used for defined purposes which are notified to staff.

The authors also note that while collecting diversity data can help organizations implement and monitor policies intended to increase workforce diversity, it also comes with specific employment and data protection risks. They further outline steps employers can take to mitigate these risks.