Abstract:  The context of labor is different from ordinary life. The asymmetry between employers and the employees in terms of economic status and technology cognition can easily damage employees’ personal information rights and interests. The traditional mechanism of “informing and consent” mechanism is facing the predicaments that essential elements exist only in name in real contexts of labor and that the way of judging the legitimacy of processing employees’ personal information gradually shift towards the objective standard of being “necessary”. However, the connotation of “necessary” is vague and principled in the current legislation, which makes it difficult to resolve conflicts of interests between employers and employees. To improve the applicability of “necessary” causes, contextual analysis method is suggested, which takes into account the benefits and risks in information processing activities comprehensively. It is also essential to create specific standards of assessment test according to the legitimacy, necessity and proportionality of the employers’ personal information processing behaviors.

Key words: consent of employees, personal information processing, legal grounds； assessment test, principle of proportionality