Does an employer have the right to require an employee to provide a private telephone number?
ANSWER
As a rule, the employer is entitled under Article 22¹ § 1(3) of the Labour Code to request contact details from a person applying for employment. However, contact details — i.e. the choice of which details to provide in this case — belong to the candidate (or employee at a later stage). This means that the employer cannot impose on a job applicant or employee which contact details they must provide, e.g. that it must be a private telephone number, as the employee may decide, for example, to provide only an email address. If, therefore, the employer wishes to obtain other contact details from the employee than those indicated by the employee, it should obtain the employee's consent in this respect.
This position is also expressed in legal commentary: "As regards the contact details of a person applying for employment, it should be clearly emphasised that the candidate makes an independent choice as to the method of contact, which has a direct bearing on the personal data they provide. They may also freely decide to provide more than one item of information in this respect (telephone number, email). Where the employer wishes to be able to contact the person in a way other than the candidate has decided, collecting such additional data may take place only with the consent of the person applying for employment (in that situation, at the employer's request). It would seem, however, that in an era of diverse communication channels, the employer could suggest — e.g. in a form for candidates — preferred forms of contact. These may not, however, restrict the candidate's freedom." Labour Code. Commentary, ed. Prof. Arkadiusz Sobczyk, 2020, 5th ed.
In summary, as regards contact details the employer cannot, on the basis of the Labour Code, impose on an employee which contact details they are obliged to provide. Obtaining and processing other contact details than those indicated by the employee should be preceded by obtaining their consent within the meaning of Article 6(1)(a) GDPR.
