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Builders' blacklist compiler fined £5,000 under DPA
It's not enough it should have been much more. I hope he gets sued by his victims
OUT-LAW News, 16/07/2009
The man behind the construction industry blacklist that workers have claimed was used to discriminate against trade union activists has been fined £5,000 for Data Protection Act (DPA) breaches by a court.
The fine was handed down at Knutsford Crown Court as a penalty for the operation of a database processing personal information without registering with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) as a data controller.
Ian Kerr and his company, The Consulting Association (TCA), were accused by the ICO of running a covert vetting operation but the only sanction available under the DPA was to ask a court to impose the fine.
The Government is proposing changes to the law to make it an offence to compile such a list because Kerr's activities are not likely to be covered by existing laws banning the use of the lists.
"At the moment it is against the law to deny someone employment on the basis of their trade union membership or activity," said employment law expert Tom Potbury of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind OUT-LAW.COM. "But the compilation of the list might not be against the law, other than the DPA."
The ICO said that Kerr's database held details on 3,213 construction workers. He charged building firms for a service checking workers' names and details against his database. Trade unions have said that many workers may have lost or not been offered jobs because of warnings about them on the secret blacklist.
The Government says that it will fast-track a consultation process on changes to the law which will allow people to claim compensation against those who compile a blacklist. But the changes only relate to lists concerning union activity.
"Even the new regulations only propose to pickup up blacklists relating to trade union membership and activities, not, for example, those who have brought claims in Employment Tribunals over things in the past," said Potbury. "It is a modest change to existing law."
Trade unions have criticised the small fine imposed on Kerr.
"This fine is totally inadequate and in no way reflects the seriousness of the offence," said Trades Union Congress (TUC) general secretary Brendan Barber. "Thousands of trade unionists have been unable to work as a result of this man's activities, and may struggle to get work in the future."
Data protection law expert Rosemary Jay said, though, that it was right that Kerr face only the penalties pertaining to the law he had actually broken, which was that requiring the registering of databases processing personal information.
"What he did was run a database without registration and that was what he was punished for. As a matter of law he shouldn't be punished for something else," said Jay. "For non-registration of a database it was quite a hefty fine."
The ICO is to receive powers to fine for general and serious breaches of the principles underlying the DPA, but the Government has not yet published details of what those fines will be and when they will come into force.
"If the Commissioner had the powers planned that allow for fines for breaches of the Act we could have been looking at quite a significant fine," she said.
See: Blacklisting of Trade Unionists: Consultation on Revised Draft Regulations (64-page / 373KB PDF)
See also: ICO vows prosecution over builders' blacklist, OUT-LAW News, 09/03/2009
It's not enough it should have been much more. I hope he gets sued by his victims
OUT-LAW News, 16/07/2009
The man behind the construction industry blacklist that workers have claimed was used to discriminate against trade union activists has been fined £5,000 for Data Protection Act (DPA) breaches by a court.
The fine was handed down at Knutsford Crown Court as a penalty for the operation of a database processing personal information without registering with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) as a data controller.
Ian Kerr and his company, The Consulting Association (TCA), were accused by the ICO of running a covert vetting operation but the only sanction available under the DPA was to ask a court to impose the fine.
The Government is proposing changes to the law to make it an offence to compile such a list because Kerr's activities are not likely to be covered by existing laws banning the use of the lists.
"At the moment it is against the law to deny someone employment on the basis of their trade union membership or activity," said employment law expert Tom Potbury of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind OUT-LAW.COM. "But the compilation of the list might not be against the law, other than the DPA."
The ICO said that Kerr's database held details on 3,213 construction workers. He charged building firms for a service checking workers' names and details against his database. Trade unions have said that many workers may have lost or not been offered jobs because of warnings about them on the secret blacklist.
The Government says that it will fast-track a consultation process on changes to the law which will allow people to claim compensation against those who compile a blacklist. But the changes only relate to lists concerning union activity.
"Even the new regulations only propose to pickup up blacklists relating to trade union membership and activities, not, for example, those who have brought claims in Employment Tribunals over things in the past," said Potbury. "It is a modest change to existing law."
Trade unions have criticised the small fine imposed on Kerr.
"This fine is totally inadequate and in no way reflects the seriousness of the offence," said Trades Union Congress (TUC) general secretary Brendan Barber. "Thousands of trade unionists have been unable to work as a result of this man's activities, and may struggle to get work in the future."
Data protection law expert Rosemary Jay said, though, that it was right that Kerr face only the penalties pertaining to the law he had actually broken, which was that requiring the registering of databases processing personal information.
"What he did was run a database without registration and that was what he was punished for. As a matter of law he shouldn't be punished for something else," said Jay. "For non-registration of a database it was quite a hefty fine."
The ICO is to receive powers to fine for general and serious breaches of the principles underlying the DPA, but the Government has not yet published details of what those fines will be and when they will come into force.
"If the Commissioner had the powers planned that allow for fines for breaches of the Act we could have been looking at quite a significant fine," she said.
See: Blacklisting of Trade Unionists: Consultation on Revised Draft Regulations (64-page / 373KB PDF)
See also: ICO vows prosecution over builders' blacklist, OUT-LAW News, 09/03/2009
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