Core values

Gossip In The Workplace, Mental Health And TK MAXX

Gossip, of course in any form, doesn’t serve any true purpose. Sure, tabloids have built a career on it but if you listen to any celebrity interview and they’ll quickly confirm that their least favorite thing to do is Google themselves. Why? Because even though you and those around you may know the truth, realising that not everyone else around you does is a hard pill to swallow.

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Equal Pay Balancing the Scales in the Workplace

The concept of equal pay for equal work seems straightforward. However, achieving this balance in the workplace requires a legal framework. In the UK, the Equality Act 2010 provides this framework, ensuring workers are compensated fairly for their contributions. The concept of equal pay for equal work seems straightforward. Yet, achieving this balance in the

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Klarna and Milkywire Bank on Biodiversity, Investments Grow on Trees!

Klarna, known for its AI-enhanced global payments system and Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) shopping services, in collaboration with environmental platform Milkywire, announced the launch of the Nature Transformation Fund. This initiative is designed to facilitate direct investments by tech and financial entities into projects that aggressively push towards achieving global biodiversity goals. The newly

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Florian Risch, The Employee Who Thought It Was Okay To Laugh And Tell Anecdote About “Black Man Having Sexual Intercourse With An Animal” During Workplace Dinner.

When asked what the laughter was all about during a work dinner, the Payone GmbH employee Florian Risch told the only black employee attending the dinner that he was making reference to a “black man having sexual intercourse with an animal”. 

Florian Risch, The Employee Who Thought It Was Okay To Laugh And Tell Anecdote About “Black Man Having Sexual Intercourse With An Animal” During Workplace Dinner. Read More »

Unveiling the Realities of Workplace Discrimination: A Call for Equitable Change

In an era marked by diversity and inclusion initiatives, the sobering reality of workplace discrimination persists, particularly for young individuals from ethnic minority backgrounds. Recent research conducted by the Youth Futures Foundation has brought to light the pervasive nature of this issue, uncovering distressing statistics and prompting a resounding call to action for stakeholders across

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Benjamin Zephaniah: A Trailblazing Voice for Black Britain and Beyond Passes Away at 65

The extraordinary life and legacy of Benjamin Zephaniah, a revered British poet, musician, actor, and activist, left a profound impact on Black Britain and beyond. Born in Birmingham in 1958, Zephaniah’s journey from a dyslexic, school-leaving teenager to a globally acclaimed poet and performer is nothing short of remarkable. Zephaniah’s early life in Birmingham, which

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The Blackface, The Work Christmas Party And Payone (Worldline Subsidiary)

Just days into a new job at Payone (Worldline subsidiary), I walked into a Christmas party to be confronted by a white colleague who I had been introduced to earlier that day, dressed up as blackface painting.  A full array of senior management and HR staff were in attendance as revellers, and it was a baptism of fire for me, having never experienced this at any other previous employer. Besides awkward looks from some people, laughter from others, the HR staff were silent during the event and there has been no apology to those likely to have taken offence.

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Post-Brexit: data protection
Card processor sends sensitive data to wrong address
24 August 2022

Worldline SA subsidiary Payone GmbH has been accused of breaching data protection rules after it sent sensitive employee payroll information to the wrong address by accident. The Worldline Group holdS a 60% stake in the Frankfurt based company who have a small UK market presence.

In June 2021, one of Payone GmbH’s ex UK employees (the data subject) received a “potential data breach notification” from the firm advising him that his salary, National Insurance data, nationality (Special Category Data) was amongst various bits of information sent to an incorrect home address.

This included personal information such as the former employees name, age and address.  It also included details such as the date of birth and the amount of annual work bonus he received in his bank account amongst other identifiable data.

Payone GmbH confirmed that this document was sent out in error following an employee making a mistake when re-entering data processed by their third-party payroll provider.  The error arose when the employee was fulfilling an Article 15 GDPR request. The error was spotted by the data subject when he noticed in an email version of the document that the postal address was incorrect. An attempt to notify Payone GmbH of the error went in vain as the document was already irretrievably despatched.

The data subject was alarmed with the incident which exposed him to the possibility of fraudulent activity, amidst reasonable fears his data could end up on the dark web and used by criminals.  Habitually resident in the UK he complained to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in June 2021. He similarly raised the concern in Germany via The Hessian Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (HBDI).

The ICO reprimanded Payone GmbH for the error in their final decision letter.
Similarly, the HBDI cited a violation of Article 5(f) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) relating to integrity and confidentiality.

The ICO stated in their July 2021 findings that Payone GmbH, “should take steps to ensure that all personal data records are accurate and up to date. Holding inaccurate information, such as addresses, does increase the risk of personal data breaches and poses risks to the security of information”.

The HBDI confirmed in their October 2021 findings that Payone GmbH had taken remedial action. They concluded that a monetary fine would not be imposed on Payone GmbH as they had taken technical and organisational steps in response to the data breach. Data subjects could now request their data in an autonomous portal.

The GDPR, which came into effect in 2018, gave the Information Commissioner’s Office greater powers to tackle data breaches. The new ‘UK GDPR’ charts its own course after Brexit whilst seeking to maintain EU GDPR adequacy.  In extreme scenarios, organisations face penalties of up to £20m or 4 per cent of their global worldwide turnover, whichever is more.

In the years prior to GDPR, the ICO fines were capped at £500,000.

The data subject said: “I am just glad I spotted it; they were going to resend the document again to another wrong address. Prior to Brexit the process would have been commenced via the ICO who in turn would liaise with the HBDI on the data subjects’ behalf; but I found myself communicating with both authorities separately which was an additional step but in the end was surprisingly
effective. Unfortunately, Payone GmbH again sent my incorrect address to the
Workers Pension Trust in January 2022, and documents yet again went to the wrong address. In my opinion they have not learned from the first time and my complaint is sitting with the ICO yet again”.

The former employee is pursuing a remedy under Article 82 UK GDPR via
the Court’s of England & Wales.

Extraordinary Experiences

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Our Core Values

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