Mrthfx

If a person makes a false accusation against me in written, but not a published form, such as email, is there a legal process I can enact which would force the accusing party to either retract the claim or prove it?

posting using a dummy account to protect myself and all concerned.

Background.

As the DPO in my company, I'm handling the SAR of a former employee. It is a sensitive subject, as the employee has started process against the company against their treatment during their employ. To ensure data privacy, I've been in contact with the person by email to ensure they understand their rights under GDPR and explain why some data regarding other people is being redacted from the information requested.

In response, the person has inferred that the information they received has been edited in a way which harms his defence in his case against the company. If this inference becomes an actual accusation, what legal recourse do I have on this?

if the accusation is printed publicly, libel laws would come into force. Since it is not public, i'm not sure if I am protected by law from this outright lie.

Defamation requires communication to a third-party

I can say (or write) anything I like about you person to person and unless it is a threat, you have no recourse at all.

Of course, I have to be careful - calling you a “bastard” might be a slur on your mother communicated to a third-party (you) which would give her a right to sue although that would require a literal and largely archaic use of the term.

That said, you do need to check with your lawyer if you can redact names in the face of a subpoena - complying with a legal obligations is a legitimate use of personal data under GDPR.

Dale M's answer pretty much covers it, but it sounds like this is a case of misunderstanding by the former employee rather than an actionable accusation.

The way you have edited the documents will not harm his defence - if the details you removed are considered relevant, the court will order you to produce unedited documents.

At that point, reproducing the documents for court use will be considered a Lawful Basis for Processing covered by sub paragraph (c), paragraph 1, Article 6 of 2016/679.

If you were to be publicly accused of harming his defence, you could demonstrate that this was untrue (since you would either have produced unedited documents as ordered, or they would have been deemed irrelevant by the court), but if you were to bring a civil action you would have to consider the amount of financial damages that had been suffered as a result of the accusation. If these are difficult to determine, any legal action you bring is unlikely to be successful.