Summary

In labour relations, the interests of employees and employers often collide. One such area is collision between the interests of the parties in labour relations in issues related to data and information. The interest of both the employee – that an unreasonably large amount of data on him/her not be collected, and the employer – to obtain information about the employee, have been constitutionally guaranteed. By bringing the conflict of interest between the parties in labour relations, as regards issues related to data and information, onto the level of constitutional law, it is possible to map various collisions between fundamental rights and freedoms. The rights of employers are primarily protected by § 31 of the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of enterprise. The constitutional rights of the employer, however, collide here with the rights of employees, since any check on an employee, and collecting information about him/her, may prejudice the right to the inviolability of private life as protected in § 26 of the Constitution. In certain cases, monitoring employee e-mails, and listening to telephone conversations, may also prejudice the right to the confidentiality of messages as stipulated in § 43 of the Constitution.

Based on § 13 of the Constitution, the legislator also has the obligation to balance the colliding constitutional rights of the parties in labour relations in issues relating to data and information. The article uses current examples in the discussion of whether the interests and rights of the parties in labour relations in Estonia are appropriately balanced in data-related issues.