On April 28, 2020, the Dutch Supervisory Authority (“Dutch SA”) announced its decision to impose a fine of €725,000 on a company for unlawfully processing the biometric data of its employees.
In 2018, the company concerned installed an access and time management system that collected and processed biometric templates of employees’ fingerprints. This initiative came about following indications of fraudulent use of the company’s existing badge-based time management system. After installation, the company’s old system co-existed with the new system, and employees were free to choose the method by which to sign in to work. One of the employees subsequently filed a complaint with the Dutch SA, which led to this investigation.