The information systems of the Unemployment Insurance (UI) are used to process personal data and other information needed to implement the UI and the public employment service. This side provides an overview of what is meant by personal data, how it is processed, and the authorities and persons who can access it. It also details the rights of data subjects.
What is personal data?
Personal data is any information that relates to an identified or identifiable person. When the processing of personal data is carried out by a public authority, it has a legal basis. The Unemployment Insurance Act (UIA) (in particular article 96b et seq.) and the Recruitment Act (RecA) (in particular article 33a et seq.) constitute the legal basis for carrying out the tasks of the UI and of the public employment service.
What are the information systems managed by the UI?
The UI uses a number of information systems (the UI information systems are defined under article 83, para. 1bis UIA):
ASAL: Information system for payment of UI benefits
PLASTA: Information system for public employment services (RAV)
LAMDA: Information system for labour market data analysis
eServices UI: Access platform for online services
Job-Room: Public employment service platform
This information system allows unemployment insurance funds to pay unemployment insurance benefits. The competent cantonal authorities for short-time working com-pensation and bad weather compensation also use it to process the corresponding noti-fications and announcements.
The system mainly processes the following data:
- Identity data and contact data
- Data relating to professional activity and employability
- Data relating to insurance benefits
- Other necessary data, particularly to examine employability and entitlement to compensation: sickness, accident, pregnancy, maternity or paternity leave, mili-tary service, civilian or civil protection service, time in prison and/or in an educa-tional institution
This information system supports the regional employment offices (RAVs) in their counselling and placement activities for jobseekers.
The system mainly processes the following data:
- Identity data: last name, first name, address, date of birth, email address, OASI number, insurance number
- Professional data: qualifications, skills and experience, CV, language skills, last sector worked in, last employer
- Data relating to the employment sought: economic sector, work-time percentage, mobility, region where employment sought
- Data relating to jobs or labour market measures assigned
- Data relating to sanctions
- Other personal data: health, personal circumstances, credit report
This information system collects the data needed to compile statistics on the labour market in Switzerland (e.g. unemployment rate) and the performance indicators for the UI authorities in particular.
The data contained in this system comes from the PLASTA and SIPAC systems and from the Job-Room platform. It is provided for statistical, research or planning purpos-es in anonymised form, which means that it is not possible to identify data subjects. Only the UI compensation office has access to non-anonymised personal data.
This platform is a contact point between beneficiaries of UI benefits and the UI authorities.
The personal data collected via the eServices is processed and stored in the PLASTA and SIPAC information systems.
This platform allows jobseekers to search for vacancies and allows potential employers to find suitable candidates. The profiles of jobseekers, including their professional quali-fications and language skills, are published there in anonymised form.
Access to jobseekers' details is granted to employment agencies via a login and on the basis of the prior consent of data subjects. Likewise, data subjects can decide on a case by case basis whether or not they wish to allow potential employers to contact them directly. Details on this can be found in the privacy statement that has to be read and accepted to register on the Job-Room.
What rights do data subjects have?
Data subjects have the right to be informed about the use of their data free of charge and in a clear and readily understandable form. They can also request that data stored about them is completed or rectified.
The data recorded in the information systems managed by the UI compensation office is kept for five years from when it was last processed, whereas accounting documents are retained for ten years. Data subjects cannot request the deletion of their data before the aforemen-tioned retention periods have expired. This is because on the one hand the periods are stipulated by law (retention periods are stipulated under article 125 UIO), and on the other, for reasons linked to the compilation of performance indicators for the UI authorities.
Who has access to the UI's information systems?
Only the authorities and the persons permitted by law can access the data in the UI information systems (the authorities and persons authorised are set out under articles 96c UIA and 35 RecA; the data and the access rights are listed in the Ordinance on the UI information systems).
Who can the personal data be shared with?
The personal data in the UI information systems may be disclosed to other authorities, but only under certain conditions stipulated by law (the list of recipients is set out under articels 97a UIA and 34a RecA).
In addition, personal data in the UI information systems may be disclosed for statistical, research or planning purposes:
- Federal bodies are authorised to process personal data not related to specific persons, particularly in the framework of scientific research (the federal bodies are authorised under article 39 of the Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP)).
- Personal data may also be disclosed to other research institutions on a case by case basis with the prior consent of the data subjects concerned.
Consent is not required for the processing of anonymised data or purely statistical data.
Likewise, the consent of data subjects is not required for surveys and research projects con-ducted on behalf of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) or the UI compensa-tion office as these are tasks that are permitted by law.
How is the security of personal data guaranteed?
The security of personal data in the UI information systems is guaranteed using technical and organisational measures that comply with the applicable norms and standards. The data is processed and kept in Switzerland.
Data subjects are encouraged to help ensure the security of their personal data, for example by taking appropriate steps to protect their usernames and passwords.
Which authorities do I need to contact to access my personal data?
Data subjects can contact their RAV if the data in question relates to counselling or employ-ment services. They can also contact their unemployment insurance fund if the request concerns data relat-ing to unemployment benefits.
Those who are no longer registered with the UI and would like information on their personal data, can contact the UI compensation office:
State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO)
Labour market / Unemployment Insurance
Holzikofenweg 36
3003 Bern
Requests for access addressed to the UI compensation office must be accompanied by a copy of an identity document (identity card or passport).