Legal and technical aspects of Electronic Employee Records

Keeping employee records electronically raises challenging legal and technical questions. It is necessary to establish the legal framework for keeping employee records electronically and, in particular, it must be ensured that the electronic records fulfil the requirements of employee records in the same way as the paper records currently do.

Legally compliant scanning

The transformation of paper employee records into electronic employee records will require documents to be converted into electronic form. In doing so, it is vital that the electronic form of the document is exactly the same as the paper version and that this fact can be proven in the long-term. This will be achieved through a process of legally compliant scanning employing exacting technical and organisational measures.

Evidential value

An Employee Record must provide reliable information about the circumstances of the employee. It must be possible to use the documentation contained in each Employee Record (for example documents evidencing particular events such as the award of academic titles, qualifications, personal circumstances) as evidence in administrative or court proceedings.

Data protection

Electronic Employee Records must adhere to the requirements of Data Protection and, in particular, it must be impossible for unauthorised persons to access the data.

Introduction of Electronic Employee Records

The State Chancellery of the State of the Saarland is working on meeting the legal and organisational requirements for the introduction of Electronic Employee Records. This implicitly requires the answering of difficult legal and technical questions and, to this end, the State Chancellery and the Institute of Legal Informatics are working on a joint project.