Employee Privacy Act Requirements
Include in Your Effective Employee Orientation Program
The Employee Privacy Act: What Is It, and How Does It Affect You, and its role in organizational behavior?
If you're an employee, and part of your job duties involve handling personal information about others, you have certain responsibilities in the way you collect, use and distribute that information so as to protect others' rights and their sensitive and personal information.
Firstly, what is meant by "privacy"?
With regards to the Act, privacy means the right a citizen has to be left alone by the government, and to have the right to say when and how information about him or herself is collected, used and distributed.
Responsibilities with the Employee Privacy Act
If you are an employee who handles the type of information described in the Act, you have a responsibility to ensure that any personal information about others in your possession is protected, handled, distributed, and disposed of securely and properly so that their privacy is protected. This is one of the things that should be emphasis ed in an effective employee orientation process. You must also be careful about sharing this information, and only disclose the information to people who are permitted to have access to that information.
In addition, you as an employee are only allowed to see that information if you need it to properly perform your duties.
If you have legitimate access to information but you share that information with others who do NOT have the right to have access to that information legitimately, you are in direct violation of the law and there may be penalties involved for breaching privacy in this way.
Collecting personal information
Having the right to collect personal information from people as part of your job duties does NOT give you the right to collect just any personal information. In other words, you are only given the right to collect personal information from someone if that information is both necessary and relevant to the job that you must perform.
You must inform the person you are collecting information from IN WRITING about why you need that information, what it's going to be used for, what your legal authority is in collecting it, and what may happen if they refuse to disclose it (if anything). This information is usually given to you on a specific form that the person consenting to the release of information fills out.
Both electronic and paper versions may have to be completed for consent to collect personal information. An Information Collection Officer or Privacy Act Officer may be contacted for further information.
What to do if you're in doubt
It's always better to be safe than sorry, so if you have any questions about the Employee Privacy Act, the information you can collect, or any other questions, make sure you contact your Privacy Act Specialist and make sure of your actions before you do anything. Contravening this act can result in termination and job layoffs.
