The use of information technology at work has emphasised a tension between two distinct principles: firstly, the inviolability of employees' private lives and private communications and, secondly, the rights of employers to enjoy their private property and to exercise their managerial powers....

In Germany, there are very few leading cases that provide guidelines for employers and employees on the use and storage of personal data. This might be a consequence of the specific character of German Labour Law, which is not a comprehensive and coherent system of rules, but rather a bundle of...