Images on Company Websites

[Xpress Data]

Hi all

I've come across a query on when to ask for employee consent (by way of a consent form) to utilise their images on internal comms (star performer, new team formed, someones opinion of the day). Some of the images will not be focused on one individual, for example, the team photo would be that of everyone in the team and it wouldn't be feasible to gain everyone's consent.

Do you need to reach out and ask for consent every time you wish to use the an image (old or new) in the internal workplace comms?

Would it not be a better option to say in our privacy notice or even in a statement before the newsletters is released that their images are included and if they wanted the image removed, we could facilitate that?

 

[Simon Plummer]

Try to think of it differently. You only need consent if you are using 'consent' as the lawful basis for processing. If you use a different basis then this is fine as long as it is recorded and justified. Consent actually makes things like this much more difficult, and I would avoid it as much as possible. Have you thought about 'Legitimate Interests' (caveat without knowing the details)? As long as there is a clear process for people to object/request their image to be removed it may be the way to go?

 

[Mike Kilby PC.dp]

GDPR and employment is not my speciality though a colleague who is out today has specialised in that area.

Arguably it would come down to “is it identifiable?” Could those who are likely to see the image using the information in it, or information that they have, reasonably identify any individual in that image?

I would say generally with a single persons photo, get consent once to use it/them in company literature. This would normally be during induction.

For group photos, as long as people agree to be in the photo, you’d likely do those under Legitimate Interest, providing the person can elect to not be in it.

The difficulty comes using when someone has left or makes a deletion or objection request, where you would only be able to use that image with explicit consent or by redacting/blurring them out regardless of whether it was consent based or otherwise.