SART - information on data protection
Information About the Data Protection Act
Sickness absence data is clearly sensitive information. An employer recording and processing such data needs to comply with the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998.
If you use a database to hold identifiable personal data on the cause of sickness, or to record an employee's disability, you are processing 'sensitive personal data'? which has additional rules in the Act.
For the Information Commissioner's guidelines to the Act go to:
www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk/ .
Guidance about absence records can be found in 'The Employment Practices Code. Part 2: Employment Records'? (revised June 2005). This is available as a PDF from the following location:
www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk/cms/DocumentUploads/ICO_EmpPracCode.pdf