Worker Data Rights under the GDPR and Beyond: Enforcement and Legal Mobilisation across the EU

  • Panel
  • Class Room
  • Friday 22.05 — 11:50 - 13:05

Organising Institution

Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Competence Centre on the Future of Work

Belgium

The Competence Centre on the Future of Work (FES Future of Work) was founded in 2021 in Brussels by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES). As part of a social democratic organisation, we strive to uphold its core values of freedom, justice and solidarity in the context of the digital transformation.
  • Academic 2
  • Business 1
  • Policy 3
This panel builds on an empirical report on Worker Data Rights under the GDPR and Beyond, commissioned by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Future of Work, analysing the enforcement of data protection in employment across the EU. It highlights enforcement gaps, cross-national fragmentation, and the disconnect between the GDPR’s formal guarantees and their practical effectiveness in contexts of workplace surveillance and data-driven management. The panel assesses the GDPR as a tool for protecting workers’ data rights, its interaction with national labour law, and the untapped potential of collective and representative enforcement mechanisms under Article 80 GDPR. Bringing together perspectives from academia, regulators and civil society, the discussion will reflect on enforcement practices and future regulatory pathways, including the implementation of the Platform Work Directive, GDPR reform under the Digital Omnibus, and a potential Directive on Algorithmic Management.

Questions to be answered

  1. How do GDPR enforcement practices in employment contexts differ across EU Member States?
  2. What are the main challenges faced by DPAs and courts in enforcing workers’ data protection rights?
  3. Can collective enforcement mechanisms under Article 80 GDPR address structural underenforcement?
  4. How should emerging EU regulatory frameworks shape the future governance of worker data rights?

Moderator

Justin Nogarede

Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Competence Centre on the Future of Work - Belgium

Justin Nogarede is Senior Policy Officer at FES Future of Work, where he covers data protection and AI at work, as well as the political economy of digitalisation. Before, he worked on digital policy at the FEPS, as well as on the digital single market, application of EU law, and better regulation at the Secretariat-General of the European Commission.

Speaker

Giovanni Gaudio

University of Turin - Italy

Giovanni is Assistant Professor (RTT) in Labour Law at the University of Turin. His research focuses on labour law, AI and digitalisation, with publications in leading international labour law journals. He has conducted research at Bocconi University, Ca’ Foscari University, the University of Oxford and KU Leuven, and has been invited to deliver lectures and seminars at several universities in Italy and abroad, including Sapienza University of Rome, the University of Bologna, KU Leuven, and Universidade Católica Portuguesa, among others. Giovanni has also acted as an external consultant and expert for both private and public organisations, including the International Labour Organization (ILO). Before turning to academia full time, he practised as a labour lawyer at leading international law firms, most recently at Freshfields.

Speaker

Marta Otto

University of Warsaw - Poland

Marta Otto is an Assistant Professor of Labour Law and Social Policy at the University of Warsaw (Poland), holding an LL.M and PhD degree from the European University Institute (EUI, Florence, Italy). Her research focuses on European, International, and Comparative Labour Law, with a particular emphasis on privacy and data protection in employment, digital rights, algorithmic management, AI, and collaborative governance.

Speaker

Okşan Karakuş

Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (HmbBfDI) - Germany

Okşan Karakuş is a legal officer and head of the Economic Affairs Department at the Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (HmbBfDI). As a fully qualified lawyer and criminologist (MA), she has many years of experience in data protection in the fields of police, domestic intelligence, and the judiciary. In 2018, she worked at the Ministry of the Interior, where she was responsible for the first major digitalization project of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. Since August 2018, she has been part of the HmbBfDI again and was initially responsible, among other things, for the insurance and credit industry, credit agencies, and commercial services. Since 2020, her main focus has been on employee data protection in both the public and private sectors.

Speaker

Thomas Zerdick

EDPS - Europe

Head of Unit Supervision & Enforcement at the European Data Protection Supervisor