A sensitive data protection incident occurred at Volkswagen Group Services that affected around 600 employees. As Der Spiegel reports, information about absences of specific employees is said to have been passed on internally. Details of the absences are said to have been discussed in conferences with different managers.
Volkswagen Group Services provides services and, within this framework, provides personnel for technical services or logistics for the Volkswagen Group. The company informed employees of the data protection violation in a letter. Volkswagen Group Services confirmed the incident to our editorial team and announced: “The necessary internal processes to clarify the matter were initiated immediately. The responsible state data protection authority was involved early and comprehensively. We are also informing the affected employees transparently about the matter.”
It is unclear what happened to the health data at VW
According to the company, the exchange took place “primarily as part of the company’s duty of care with the aim of reducing the burden on individual employees and reducing sickness-related absences.” However, according to the media report, the letter to those affected, which is available to Spiegel, contains the information that it is said to have been an “absenteeism quota initiative”. For planning purposes, “project leaders and managers, HR staff and foremen have met online every two weeks since June 2025.” According to Spiegel, some of those affected whose data was passed on have announced that they will sue the company.
Sick leave has been a sensitive issue within the group for years. Last year, Volkswagen fired several hundred employees for alleged misconduct, primarily unexcused absences.
As head of the online service, Gesine Wagner oversees the digital channels of human resources management and, as an editor, is primarily responsible for the topics of labor law, politics and regulation. She continues to be the contact person for everything that has to do with HR start-ups. She is also responsible for the CHRO Panel.
