The Implications of the Privacy Act on Employment

Abstract

In relation to employment law, the Privacy Act, which came into force on I July 1993, can be usefully characterised as both a human rights statute and a freedom of information statute. Before proceeding to discuss the Privacy Act under these two broad headings, it will be necessary to grasp the basic conceptual jargon of the Act. The currency of the Pnvacy Act is "personal information," which is defined in s.2 as "information about an identifiable individual." The term "information" itself is not defined, which appears to be deliberate, as to define a word is to limit it.