The Manawatū Community Law Centre wanted a former employee, whose privacy the centre breached, to pay it $24,400 in legal costs.
The Human Rights Review Tribunal, however, instead ordered the centre to pay former receptionist and information officer Alisha Cook $7500 in costs.
That money is on top of the $6000 the centre already has to pay Cook for the privacy breach.
The tribunal released a decision in late-December regarding costs, having reserved the issue after earlier finding the centre breached Cook’s privacy.
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The breach came about in the context of a relationship dispute between the centre and Cook, who started working there on a one-year contract in 2016.
She gave someone at the centre a waiver to get information from Work and Income entitlements for when she was sick.
But more requests for information from Work and Income were made by the centre without Cook’s permission.
One happened while she was on leave after filing two personal grievance claims against the centre.
The centre argued it was not unreasonable to re-use the waiver, but the tribunal disagreed, finding the centre’s actions “unreasonably intrusive”.
The centre tried to claim $24,400 in legal costs on the basis it made offers to Cook to resolve the privacy issue.
It claimed the person using the privacy waiver was acting...
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