Online Seminar: Navigating Workers’ Data Rights in the Digital Age

The seminar 'Navigating Workers’ Data Rights in the Digital Age: A historical, current, and future perspective on employee data protection' delves into the unique challenges posed by the integration of advanced monitoring tools and algorithmic systems in workplace management. It analyses how existing and emerging legal and regulatory frameworks respond to the challenges and opportunities posed by rapidly evolving technologies and workplace practices. These issues are of interest to a wide range of audiences, including trade unions, workers representatives, policymakers, and academics. First, Halefom Abraha from Utrecht University will present his research, followed by Six Silberman from University of Oxford, who will highlight key insights, and raise critical questions to stimulate discussion.

The seminar will address questions such as: Does the regulation of workers’ data rights fall under data protection legislation or labour law? Are omnibus data protection rules sufficient for addressing the distinct requirements and complexities of employment relationships, or should they be replaced with specific regulations tailored to this context? These questions have long been debated and remained unsettled. Their importance has grown as new technologies, such as algorithmic management, increasingly blur the lines between different areas of law, each with distinct regulatory objectives. 

Data protection has been a pressing public policy concern since the 1970s, initially in European countries but now globally. The increasing digitalization of all aspect of life has prompted more nations to introduce regulatory frameworks with the aim to mitigate the broader societal and individual risks. The recent advancement in algorithmic systems has ushered in a flurry of legislative initiatives worldwide, with more than 162 countries now enacting comprehensive modern data protection laws.

However, a recurring challenge with these regulatory initiatives is their application to the workplace. Specifically, the rapid advancement and widespread adoption of powerful algorithmic systems and excessively intrusive surveillance tools in the world of work have prompted many commentators to re-examine and question whether existing regulatory systems are fit for purpose.

This seminar delves into the unique regulatory issues and challenges posed by the integration of advanced monitoring tools and algorithmic systems in workplace management. It analyses how existing and emerging legal and regulatory frameworks respond to the challenges and opportunities posed by rapidly evolving technologies and workplace practices.

About the speakers

In this seminar, Halefom Abraha presents his research addressing the above questions followed by Six Silberman as a discussant, who will highlight key insights, and raise critical questions to stimulate discussion.

Halefom Abraha

Halefom Abraha (Utrecht University) is an Assistant Professor at the International and European Law (IER) Department of the Utrecht School of Law and the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM). His research and teaching interests focus on Digital Human Rights including privacy, data protection and the regulation of AI and algorithmic management in the labour market.

Six Silberman

Six Silberman (University of Oxford) is a postdoctoral researcher in the iManage Project at Bonavero, contributing to research on regulating algorithmic management. Silberman has previously been a software engineer and trade union official, and was co-founder with Lilly Irani of Turkopticon, a client reputation system used by workers on Amazon’s ‘Mechanical Turk’ crowdsourcing platform. Silberman has contributed to research on environmental issues in information technology, the working conditions and rights of workers on digital labor platforms, and ecological economics.

Registration

You can register for this online seminar by filling out the online form.