The Berlin-Brandenburg Labour Court ('the Court') issued, on 18 November 2021, its judgement in Case No. 10 Sa 443/21, in which it awarded a plaintiff €2,000 in damages in relation to a defendant's failure to fulfill the plaintiff's right to information under Article 15(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679) ('GDPR'), following an appeal to the Court by the plaintiff on the earlier decision of the Berlin Labour Court, dated 21 January 2021.

Background to the decision

In particular, the Court stated that the plaintiff, a cook employed by the defendant, brought a claim before the Berlin Labour Court against the defendant for the latter's failure to respond to the plaintiff's request to provide information in accordance with Article 15 of the GDPR in connection with an incident that took place within their employment. Furthermore, the Court specified that the Berlin Labour Court had dismissed the plaintiff's lawsuit and decided that the plaintiff had no right to payment of compensation for the violation of their right to information by the defendant, since the plaintiff had not specified their request for information. Thereafter, the Court noted that the plaintiff had appealed the Berlin Labour Court's decision, which is the subject of proceedings before the Court, to amend said decision and order the defendant to pay the plaintiff compensation.

Findings of the Court

Notably, the Court found that contrary to the the Berlin Labour Court's assessment, although the defendant did process large amounts of data about the plaintiff, this was irrelevant to the defendant's duty to respond to the plaintiff's request under the rules of the GDPR, since the plaintiff did not request general information regarding the data stored about them, but asked for specific information. Moreover, the Court also found that the information granted by the defendant in response to the plaintiff's request was insufficient and missing material information required to be provided under Article 15(1) of the GDPR, which provides for the plaintiff's right to information.

Outcomes 

Ultimately, the Court stated that in view of the defendant's breaches, the plaintiff is to be awarded €2,000 in damages, a sum incorporating €1,000 for each unanswered request put forward by the plaintiff.

You can read the decision, only available in German, here.