18/02/04

"The release of the government's discussion paper on information privacy and employee records is a welcome development in this area," said Federal Privacy Commissioner, Malcolm Crompton.

"There needs to be discussion and debate about privacy protection for employee records. The Privacy Act does not currently cover employee records and this is a chance for people to express their views about this.

"Since 21 December 2001, the Office has received 2140 phone enquiries (around 3.4% of our total calls) about the employee records exemption. During that time we have had to decline 45 complaints because of the employee records exemption.

"Employee records often contain sensitive information such as sick leave and wage records and it is important that we get the privacy balance right in this area.

"The Office will examine the paper closely and will make a submission on the discussion paper.

"I strongly encourage everybody with an interest in this area to do the same."

The discussion paper - Employee Records Privacy: A discussion paper on information privacy and employee records, was jointly prepared by the federal Attorney-General's department and the Department of Employment and Workplace relations. The Government announced in November 2000, before the private sector amendments to the Privacy Act were finally passed by parliament, that it would review existing Commonwealth, State and Territory Laws to consider the extent of the privacy protection for employee records and whether there was a need for further measures.

At that time the Government expressed the view that while employee records are deserving of privacy protection, such protection is more properly a matter for workplace relations legislation.

Submissions close on 16 April.

The discussion paper can be found at http://www.ag.gov.au/www/agdHome.nsf/Web+Pages/C5141D03A8D37DD5CA256E3600137A1C?OpenDocument