Israel: Bosses can only collect biometrics if they heed worker privacy

Israel’s Privacy Protection Authority has published a small set of rules for employers using biometric scans to identify employees.

Unlike similar policies elsewhere in the world that side heavily with employee rights or that sway trying to upset no one, the authority’s states that businesses can have legitimate biometrics programs for identification.

The policy has been summarized by regulatory news and software publisher DataGuidance. The authority posted the policy but only in Hebrew.

The regulator has set out several factors that “must be considered for using biometric systems to control and monitor attendance at work.”

First, collection of identifiers must be justifiable, and other methods that impact employee privacy less should also be considered. And, assuming that this requirement is met, it is allowable to change an employer’s status for refusing to participate.

And employees must be clearly and simply informed about scans and why they are necessary. For their part, employers must avoid collecting identifiers for no legitimate reason and consider the necessity of keeping the biometric data.

Last, employees have to give their consent. But consent can be given explicitly or implicitly by the employee’s behavior.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  data privacy  |  Israel  |  regulation  |  time and attendance  |  workforce management