Data protection obligations for employers during COVID-19 pandemic

20/04/2020

The continuing spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in employers taking extensive measures to contain the pandemic. For employers with white-collar employees, one such measure has been to implement a home working structure to avoid contagion in the workplace. On the other hand, employers that run production facilities or act in sensitive industries (e.g. pharmaceuticals, telecoms, banking) continue to keep their facilities open and to operate from their customary workplaces. In the face of this pandemic, these employers are now obliged to implement additional health and safety measures to protect the wellbeing of all their employees as per the Turkish occupational health and safety legislation, to the processing and disclosure of sensitive health data of their employees.