Labour Research (December 2020)

Law Queries

Requesting personal data

Q. I recently had an annual review with my line manager and she made reference to things that were inaccurate. These included the reason for some time off I had taken earlier in the year. I asked her to tell me what information she had on the system and she refused. Am I entitled to see it?

A. Yes, you can ask for this information by making a Subject Access Request (SAR) under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This allows you to know what information your employer is keeping about you and to request a copy of your personal data. It also entitles you to ask for information to be corrected or deleted if it is factually incorrect.

Your employer has to reply within one month, unless you have made a number of requests or the request is particularly complicated (which does not appear to be the case here). They should provide this free of charge.

There is an exception if an SAR is “manifestly unfounded or excessive”, which allows employers either not to provide the information, or to charge for it. For this reason, it’s a good idea to be specific about the information you’re asking for, and not to ask for more than you actually need.


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