HSBC breached employee’s data protection rights

A tribunal has ruled that HSBC Bank breached the data protection rights of one of its employees by sharing sensitive information without the worker’s consent.
The incident happened in April 2016 when the bank notified the Malta Union of Bank Employees that one of its members had been suspended for disciplinary reasons.
Jan Sammut, the aggrieved employee who since then has joined another union – the Independent Bankers Union which was set up in 2017 – had sought redress before the Data Protection Commissioner. However, in September 2016, the commissioner dismissed his complaint saying no violation of the Data Protection Act had been committed. 
Nonetheless, Mr Sammut challenged the ruling and the commissioner’s decision was eventually revoked by the Data Protection Appeals Tribunal.
It transpired that the plaintiff was covered by the bank’s collective agreement under the clerical and managerial category.
Mr Sammut had felt aggrieved by an e-mail sent by MUBE president William Portelli on April 11, 2016, to 10 recipients.

In the correspondence, Mr Portelli remarked that the human resources department had “confirmed that a member of the union had been suspended”.  This was further...