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Guernsey's Policy and Resources Committee is looking to change the law around confidential job references after it was found to have breached data protection laws recently.
The Office of the Data Protection Authority found that P&R had broken the law when it refused to give a jobseeker a copy of a reference received which led to an employment offer being withdrawn.
The ODPA said that under the Data Protection (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2017 the jobseeker was entitled to see the reference.
P&R said staff had performed a "balancing test" before deciding against giving the person a copy of their reference, as it contained information about other people. The committee said the decision was made because the interests of the person who wrote the reference outweighed those of the jobseeker.
The Data Protection Authority said that was wrong and on Friday it announced that P&R had been issued with an Enforcement Order.
That meant P&R had to give the jobseeker a redacted copy of the reference. P&R did not appeal this decision and had already given the jobseeker the redacted reference by the time the ODPA's statement was issued on Friday afternoon.
Since then, P&R has come out on the offensive saying that it is "extremely concerned that the legal provisions for the confidentiality around references for job applicants may not be sufficiently robust" and it is now looking to change the way they are handled.
Pictured: The political committee for Policy and Resources.
P&R said that the ODPA's statement on the situation around the reference withheld by the committee would indicate to all employers that such documents can no longer be considered confidential.
"The Committee’s view is that the ODPA’s current interpretation of the law in Guernsey is too narrow and creates a situation where employers will feel unable to provide honest feedback in a reference, effectively removing any real value of references altogether," said P&R in a statement.
"The Committee believes this has serious implications for recruitment in Guernsey and therefore must be addressed," the statement continued.
P&R has said that it does accept the ODPA's decision and will not be appealing it, but with such grave concerns around the confidential nature of job references being challenged, the committee will be discussing the case with Home Affairs to see what changes should be made to the island's data protection legislation.
"Without a change, the Island is not aligned with England and Wales," warned P&R.
"The Committee hopes this will lead to changes that ensure the law provides much greater certainty that job references should be treated as confidential in the hands of both the past employer and prospective employer," P&R's statement said.
P&R breached data protection laws
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