Tamsin Lawrence, associate director at Australian Business Lawyers & Advisors spoke to HRD about compliance with workplace surveillance and privacy laws
As hybrid work blurs the line between private spaces and the workplace—and as AI and advanced monitoring technologies increase the ability to monitor employees—the use of surveillance is becoming a growing issue.
Tamsin Lawrence, associate director at Australian Business Lawyers & Advisors (ABLA), told HRD questions are being asked about whether employers are complying with Australian laws, particularly if they are using products developed in the US, where surveillance laws are very different.
Lawrence, who will speak on the topic at the upcoming HRFutureFest Australia in Melbourne on October 29, said there were state laws, such as the Victorian Surveillance Devices Workplace Privacy Act, as well as the Federal Privacy Act, that covered workplace surveillence.
She said employers also need to be aware of a new offence—serious invasion of privacy—which has a broader application for employers than the existing Privacy Act.
“That’s definitely another space where employers need to be educating themselves, particularly now with a lot of employees working from home. There is an increased risk that they (employers) might actually be breaching both Victorian law and federal law,” she said.
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