Is Your Business Collecting COVID-19-Related Employee Data? If so, You May Need to Update Your CCPA Employee Notice

Robinson+Cole Data Privacy + Security Insider
Contact

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) requires businesses covered by the CCPA to notify their employees of the categories of personal information the business collects about employees and the purposes for which the categories of personal information are used. The categories of personal information are broadly defined in the CCPA and include personal information such as medical information, geolocation data, biometric information, and sensory data.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses are conducting screenings of employees for COVID symptoms. In many states, it is either required or recommended that businesses conduct such screenings of employees prior to entering the workplace. These employee screenings vary across the country but many include documenting an employee’s temperature, whether they have any COVID-related symptoms or exposure to individuals with COVID-19, or documenting travel out of state or out of the country. States vary too, in the method of collection of this information, with employees completing a written questionnaire via email, text, or mobile application. COVID-19 screening and temperature data is recorded and kept daily to demonstrate compliance with state and local public health requirements.

So, what does this mean for CCPA compliance? None of us could have predicted a year ago that employers would be collecting temperature data, lists of symptoms, and travel information from our employees. If you drafted your CCPA employee notice prior to the start of the pandemic, you may want to review the categories of personal information you now collect in light of these COVID-19 data collection requirements and recommendations. For example, depending upon the type of temperature check, this data could be considered biometric information or sensory data. Your employee notice may also need to disclose how such categories of personal information are used by the business, such as to comply with state and local public health requirements.

While the CCPA requires notice to employees of the categories of data collected, in light of the pandemic, businesses may wish to review their employee notice to determine if it needs to be updated to accurately reflect any additional categories of personal information collected and how the business is using that personal information.

[View source.]

DISCLAIMER: Because of the generality of this update, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations.

© Robinson+Cole Data Privacy + Security Insider | Attorney Advertising

Written by:

Robinson+Cole Data Privacy + Security Insider
Contact
more
less

Robinson+Cole Data Privacy + Security Insider on:

Reporters on Deadline

"My best business intelligence, in one easy email…"

Your first step to building a free, personalized, morning email brief covering pertinent authors and topics on JD Supra:
*By using the service, you signify your acceptance of JD Supra's Privacy Policy.
Custom Email Digest
- hide
- hide