Hamburg Fines H&M 35.3 Million Euros due to Violations

Today, in Hamburg, a control agency fined Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), a Swedish clothing manufacturer, 35.3 million euros over illegal 'surveillance' of its employees.

The Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information in Hamburg stated that the monitoring targeted hundreds of employees in the city of Nuremberg.

The commissioner added that since 2014, the H&M branch in Nuremberg collected recordings about workers' private life conditions, including their health conditions, family problems, and religious beliefs.

The commissioner also added that ''Some observers were able to know the details of the private lives of the workers through their friendly conversations, family problems, and religious beliefs."

He added that employees got invited to "Return talks" after an absence due to Coronavirus, and the details were being recorded and stored in a system "through which 50 managers could access them."

H&M Said that: "The incident revealed personal data violations for employees were against the company's rules and instructions."

The company added that it takes full responsibility and wants to apologize to the employees of the service center in Nuremberg.