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The Workplace Surveillance Bill 2005 |
The New South Wales government seek to introduce a strict new law which will outlaw employers from conducting "covert" surveillance of their employees, within the workplace, and which will also introduce a criminal penalty to any employer found to breach the law. |
The Workplace Surveillance Bill, if passed, will allow employers to conduct surveillance only when:
- notice is given to the employee of the surveillance in advance; and
- the employer has adopted a surveillance policy which has been disclosed to all employees, and the surveillance is carried out in accordance with that policy.
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An employer, in order to satisfy the notice requirements, must:
- inform the employee at least 14 days prior to commencing surveillance that surveillance will be undertaken;
- the kind of surveillance to be undertaken;
- how and when the surveillance will be carried out; and
- the nature of and time period of the surveillance.
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| The new law will cover computer surveillance by employers, which must be carried out with notice, and in accordance with a disclosed IT policy. An employer will not be able to monitor an employee's use of a computer system outside the workplace, unless the employer has provided the equipment at its own cost, to the employee. |
Covert surveillance (surveillance that is not notified surveillance) will be expressly prohibited under the new law, and employers will only be able to conduct covert surveillance of employees, with the prior approval of a Magistrate. |
Unfair Dismissal Claims (Salary cap up to $94,900.00) |
| The salary cap for an award-free employee in New South Wales has been increased to $94,900 from 1 July 2005. Employees not covered by an award, and earning in excess of that amount, cannot sue for unfair dismissal under the Industrial Relations Act 1996 (NSW). |
peter.mcnamara@cmlawyers.com.au
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