The liberal SAS in Slovakia filed a complaint with Slovakia’s GDPR office, warning of the hundreds of thousands of letters being sent to pensioners that detail how much their children earn as part of the new parental pension scheme, which according to the party, could breach EU data protection law.

Under the new “parental pension” scheme, pensioners can receive an extra payment based on their children’s earnings.

“According to the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU, wages are personal data and are therefore covered by the GDPR,” said SaS MP Peter Cmorej.

Slovakia’s GDPR office, confirmed it registered the complaint along with several others.

Letters started arriving in May and may include sensitive information.

In addition, the Social Insurance Agency is sending the letters through regular mail with no proof of ID being required. In other words, information on children and their wages could then be accessed by other people in the household.

“Some people are learning about their partner’s out-of-wedlock children,” said Cmorej, pointing to the collective lawsuit for emotional distress caused by the practice currently in the works.

He pointed out that the letters were also sent to abusive parents.

Former conservative labour minister Milan Krajniak, who pushed for the reform in an attempt to raise birth rates, says the letters are necessary to check the agency’s calculations.

SaS believes the GDPR offence could come with a fine of €20 million. Over 850,000 pensioners should receive the disputed letters by October.

(Barbara Zmušková | EURACTIV.sk)

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