Simão de Sant’Ana and Mariana Figueiredo Calado explain the legal limits on biometrics in the workplace

Simão de Sant’Ana and Mariana Figueiredo Calado have co-authored an opinion article for Human Resources Portugal’s “Direito ao Essencial” column, focusing on the use of biometric data in the workplace.

In the article, the authors examine the circumstances in which technologies such as facial recognition or fingerprint collection may be used by companies, emphasising that the law restricts the processing of such data to attendance monitoring and access control to the employer’s premises.

Simão de Sant’Ana and Mariana Figueiredo Calado also highlight the safeguards required when implementing these systems, namely the prohibition on retaining biometric data in full, the obligation to inform employees and the need to carry out a prior Data Protection Impact Assessment.

Despite the benefits these technologies may bring to the management of employment relationships, the authors warn that their particularly intrusive nature requires their use to be rigorous and proportionate, concluding that the main challenge lies in how biometric systems are implemented and used.

Read the full article here.