Information for employees concerning Aarhus University’s use of personal data in the employment relationship


The purpose of this page is to provide you with information about what data Aarhus University registers and processes in connection with your employment, as well as how the data is processed and your rights in this respect.


The data protection officer (DPO) at Aarhus University can be found on the website. The task of the data protection officer is to oversee that Aarhus University’s processing of personal data is lawful.

The data protection officer can be contacted by email at: dpo@au.dk.

As data controller, Aarhus University is responsible for all personal data collected, processed and recorded about you, regardless of whether the university itself processes the data or uses a subcontractor to process the data.

 

Purpose of the data processing

Aarhus University processes personal data concerning you for use in the payment of your salary and other administrative processes related to your employment, as well as the data generated as a consequence of your job functions, e.g. PURE, email address, website and minutes of meetings.

The legal basis for processing this data is Article 6(1)(a)-(e) and Article 9(2) (b)(a)-(j) of the General Data Protection Regulation and Section 7 of the Danish Data Protection Act.

Types of employee data

Some types of data are related to the payment of your salary, and other types of data concern access to IT systems and physical access to buildings, while other data is more related to the tasks that you perform, such as meeting minutes or your email address.

The types of data registered by the university concerning you are:
Name, civil registration number, address, salary seniority, collective agreement, employment contract, job advertisement, application with attachments (including curriculum vitae and diplomas/exam certificates), written agreements from SDD dialogues, holiday taken/remaining, special holidays, minutes from salary negotiations, citizenship, days of absence due to illness, access cards, electronic equipment, keys, physical location, registration of working hours.

The types of data which the university may have registered about you in cases in which this is or will become relevant are:
Lists of publications, teaching portfolio, references, maternity/paternity leave, adoption and parental leave, childcare days, any agreements concerning transfer of holidays, absence due to illness in connection with reimbursement, minutes from any sick leave absence interviews, minutes from any disciplinary meetings and any disciplinary sanctions, work permit, special offices (positions of trust), shift scheduling, use of the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations’ (AC organisation) free-choice scheme, free-choice pension scheme, senior staff scheme, increased tax rate, mileage allowance, free telephone, withholding of pay by SKAT (the Danish Customs and Tax Administration), parking permits, booking of houses through the Holiday Fund, psychological counselling by referral, course registrations, size of work clothes and shoes, identification photograph, information about which tools and equipment you have been provided with, contact information for your nearest relatives.

The list is not exhaustive.

Disclosure of personal data

Aarhus University only discloses personal data in cases in which there is a legal basis for doing so.

This may include disclosure of income information to the Danish Customs and Tax Administration (SKAT), as well as information about absence due to illness in connection with applications for municipal salary reimbursement. The disclosure of personal data to government agencies and institutions takes place on the legal basis of Article 6(1) (e) of the General Data Protection Regulation and Section 11(1) of the Danish Data Protection Act.

In special cases, data is sent to other government agencies and institutions when necessary in connection with, for example, cooperation agreements with Central Denmark Region, reimbursements in connection with EU projects, ministries, foundations or the police.

The university discloses information about salary, salary supplements, reasons for salary supplements and information about work tasks to the union representative who is authorised to perform salary negotiations.  The legal basis for such disclosure is Article 6(1) (c) of the General Data Protection Regulation and Section 12(1) or (2) of the Danish Data Protection Act. In connection with new appointments, the university is entitled to disclose information to the union representative with whom the salary is to be negotiated about the new employee's name, contact information, qualifications, salary and seniority classification, application and CV (without the disclosure requiring the new employee's explicit consent).

Your civil. registration number and special (sensitive) personal data will not be disclosed to the union organisation/union representative authorised to negotiate without your explicit consent. In the event that you consent to such disclosure, the legal basis for this disclosure is Articles 6(1) (a) and 9(2) (a) of the General Data Protection Regulation and Section 12(3) of the Danish Data Protection Act.

If personal data is processed in connection with a personality test, the legal basis for such processing is  Article 6(1)(e) of the General Data Protection Regulation.

The university collects and receives data from you and from government agencies and institutions such as The National Registration Office and The Danish Customs and Tax Administration (SKAT).

Access to your personal data processed by HR

At Aarhus University, the following groups of employees will have access to the personal data processed by HR:

  • HR employees and employees who undertake payroll, personnel and financial administration
  • Your management

Not all employee groups have access to all types of personal data. The more sensitive the data, the fewer employees will have access. The employees who have access may only process the data to the extent that the data is relevant for the tasks performed.

 

Archiving

For as long as you are employed by Aarhus University, data concerning your employment is saved.

Documents relating to your employment will be stored in Aarhus University's IT systems until it is no longer necessary for the university to have the information in view of the purposes for which it was collected.

For example, the university will continue to store the following types of data will after your resignation until it is no longer necessary for the purpose for which it was collected:

  • Master data
  • Details of any occupational injuries/occupational accidents
  • Information of significance to any pending civil or legal employment or legal collective agreement proceedings/arbitration proceedings for which the time limit for appeal has not expired.
  • Information concerning work with carcinogenic substances
  • Information for use in any subsequent payment of a civil servant’s pension
  • Information that must be submitted to the Danish National Archives and which has not yet been submitted, cf. section 14 of the Danish Data Protection Act.

It is your responsibility to save the documents relating to your employment.

Your rights

You have a number of rights to information about your employment details that you can exercise by submitting a request. You should contact the HR unit that administers your employment conditions. If you are in any doubt about which unit you can contact, please contact your immediate supervisor.    

  1. Inspection of data

You can submit a request to inspect the data that AU has registered about you concerning your employment. As a general rule, you have a right to inspect all data which the university has registered about you. The university must meet your request to inspect such data as soon as possible and, as far as possible, within one month.

  1. Right to rectification

You have the right to have any inaccurate personal data rectified

  1. Right to erasure

You have the right to get your personal data deleted when one of the following circumstances apply:

  • The university no longer needs the information about you in relation to the purposes for which it was collected.
  • The university has the data on the basis of consent that has since been withdrawn.
  • The university’s processing of the data is unlawful.
  • The university has to erase the data in order to comply with Danish law or EU law.
  • The university has to erase the data because you have objected to the processing of your data for a valid reason.

Note that the university’s interest in documenting your employment means that the data will not be deleted during your employment.

  1. Limitation

AU is not entitled to process data that is not necessary for the administration of your employment.

  1. Objection

You have a right to object to the processing of your personal data, if you:

  • Believe that the processing of the personal data is unlawful
  • Believe that the lawful processing of the data should cease due to your personal circumstances.
  1. How to make a complaint

You can make a complaint to the university’s Data Protection Officer (dpo@au.dk) or to the Danish Data Protection Agency if you believe that the university is processing data concerning your employment unlawfully.

Portrait photo

The university wishes to have photos of employees on its website. You are not obliged to agree to have your photo on AU’s website. If you want to have your photo on the website, you must upload it yourself.

If you do not wish to have your photo on the website, this decision will have no consequences for your employment.