Personal data may be retained for up to three years after the end of the recruitment process | PRO HR June

2022.06.13

According to the President of the Personal Data Protection Office, employers should permanently delete personal data of candidates with whom they decided not to conclude employment contracts.

However, this position is contrary to both Polish labour law regulations and the line of rulings of the Court of Justice of the EU.

An employer has an obligation to prevent unequal treatment and discrimination in employment. Hence it cannot erase the candidates' data immediately after the recruitment is over.

It needs to retain them in order to be able to verify the correctness of the recruitment processes, to periodically assess these processes for legality, and to be able to submit them as evidence that unequal treatment has not taken place.

The basis for the processing here is the legitimate interest of the employer (Article 6(1)(f) GDPR).

The legal basis for such processing is also the legitimate interests of a third party, i.e. other candidates who may pursue claims for unequal treatment.

In order to do this, it is necessary to compare the criteria used by the employer and the decisions made with regard to other individuals. 

During and after the recruitment process, the employer performs both a vertical assessment of the candidate (skills, education, experience, etc.) and a horizontal assessment, which is a comparison with other recruitment participants.

Find more in the PRO HR June 2022.