Post-employment access to online payslips/employment info

catali

Hello! I finished work for a county council on May 31st 2019. I have just discovered, almost by accident, that I will not be allowed access to my online payslips/employment details etc after 31st August (3 months). In fact, I seem to have already been locked out of the system and the person I spoke to today from HR couldn’t provide me with access. She has apparently filed a request for this to be looked at.

Is this legal? I am appalled! Isn’t this my data? Or at least data concerning me? I am told my line manager should have informed me of this but patently did not. Payroll will obviously have to keep records of my employment and pay for National Insurance and Tax accountability, but I am denied access? Do I need to print off every payslip, p60, transport claim etc etc since they went “paperless”? Surely this is going to cause impossible problems for employees for all sorts of reasons. How can I be accountable to HMRC or DWP if I cannot provide some of this information.

Thanks for your thoughts and contributions!

Tigsteroonie

Interesting ... don't know the answer, but I'm going to ask the same question of our Payroll team tomorrow!

BrassicWoman

usually you can download to PDF and then just email them to yourself

Dox

catali wrote: »

Is this legal? I am appalled! Isn’t this my data? Or at least data concerning me? I am told my line manager should have informed me of this but patently did not. Payroll will obviously have to keep records of my employment and pay for National Insurance and Tax accountability, but I am denied access? Do I need to print off every payslip, p60, transport claim etc etc since they went “paperless”? Surely this is going to cause impossible problems for employees for all sorts of reasons. How can I be accountable to HMRC or DWP if I cannot provide some of this information.

Surely you don't expect a former employer to allow you access to their system once you've left? Weren't you either printing these off, or simply forwarding the information by e-mail to yourself on a regular basis? That's what the rest of the world has been doing ...

TELLIT01

BrassicWoman wrote: »

usually you can download to PDF and then just email them to yourself

The OP can not access the system. In any event, I wouldn't expect a former employer to allow an ex-employee permanent access to any part of their system. When I retired from DWP I had to print off all my payslips before I left.

BrassicWoman

TELLIT01 wrote: »

The OP can not access the system. In any event, I wouldn't expect a former employer to allow an ex-employee permanent access to any part of their system. When I retired from DWP I had to print off all my payslips before I left.

In the first post, it says she is allowed access until 31 August, and they are sorting the technical element.

DigForVictory

I worked tech in a company with high staff churn (I left after a year) and to lock a leaver's account was standard security protocol. It used to be at a month after they'd left, but the unspoken line was lock as soon as notified, but wait to delete for 3 months.

If you should have access til the 31st & can't, that can be sorted but then go in, dump out all your stuff & leave it as you might a cheap hotel room - you have no expectation of ever being back there & no faith in the lost property aspect...

TELLIT01

BrassicWoman wrote: »

In the first post, it says she is allowed access until 31 August, and they are sorting the technical element.

They also said they can't access the system. I'll be very surprised if any government department reinstates access for an ex-employee even if the access was removed prematurely.
The OP also seems to be suggesting that they expected to have permanent access to these records on-line. That certainly isn't going to happen.

MacMickster

I would simply make a subject access request to your former employer asking them to provide you with paper copies of all payslips etc.

TBagpuss

It sounds fairly standard. Normally with that kind of system you can print or download documents so it is sensible to do so to ensure that you have your own records.

In this instnace, since you were locked out prematurely it is reasonable to ask them to arrange access to allow you to download and save the documents you need, or to send you hard copies if that is easier.

catali

Tigster: please let me know what they say! Thanks.

So, the whole world knows to download and/or print off every payslip, expenses claim etc etc? I do not think so.

What happened to the data protection act? Predictably degraded by later legislation that suits large companies/employers to the detriment of employees?

Leave like you would a cheap hotel room.....tempting, but this was the end of a 30 year career with the same employer.

Call me old fashioned (I am 59 years of age and the state considers that I have another 7 years 2 months of working life left), call me naive and idealistic, but I value fairness and integrity and accountability. This is precisely why I chose (admittedly quite a long time ago) to work for a large organisation that should be as accountable, open and transparent as it is possible to be. As an employee of such an organisation I have had to be vetted, screened, and regularly made accountable for everything I do in their name. Forgive me if I feel that this is a bit shoddy.

So, the world isn’t such a nice place after all. That does not mean we shouldn’t call out bad practice and unfairness, and I will continue to do so in some small way while I may still do so.

Thank you all for your interesting comments.