In López Ribalda and Others v Spain, the applicants worked as supermarket cashiers. The employer noticed an ongoing stock loss and installed surveillance cameras consisting of visible cameras pointed at the supermarket entrance and hidden cameras pointing at the checkouts. Workers were told about the visible cameras, but not the hidden cameras. A review of the data lead to the applicants being dismissed, having admitted their involvement in thefts. The European Court of Human Rights upheld the applicant’s claim that the covert video surveillance breached their right to privacy under Article 8 of the EU Convention. While the surveillance was carried out to detect stock losses, the employees had not been informed of the covert surveillance on the cash desks, which breached Spanish data protection law.  Therefore, a fair balance had not been struck between the applicants’ right to respect for their private life and their employer’s interest in the protection of its property rights.

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