Geolocation: Employees Must Be Informed

• Published date: 26 September 2023
• Subject Matter: Employment and HR, Employment Litigation/ Tribunals, Employee Rights/ Labour Relations
• Law Firm: Ius Laboris
• Author: Capstan Avocats

France's highest court has intervened in a case involving an employee dismissed based on the geolocation information of his work vehicle.

The facts of the case

An employee of an equipment hire company was summarily dismissed for making unjustified journeys, as shown by the geolocation records of his vehicle. The dismissal was upheld at first instance, and by the Court of Appeal of N'mes.

The trial judge noted that the unjustified journeys of which the employee was accused were established by the geolocation records of his vehicle. The geolocation process had been declared to the French Data Protection Agency (CNIL) for the purposes of locating employee vehicles and ensuring the safety of goods and people on site. The employee had been informed of this in a receipted, registered letter that mentioned the purposes for which the geolocation information would be used. The dismissal, in the trial judge's view, was therefore justified.

The decision of the Cour de Cassation

The social chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's highest civil court, disagreed. The Court ruled that prior to the implementation of any processing of personal data, the employees concerned must be informed of the identity of the data controller or its representative, the purpose(s) of the processing, the recipients or categories of recipients of the data, and of their rights to access data...