WA Contract - Issues with Security Camera Surveillance?

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Dulcie

Member
18 April 2019
3
0
1
I lost my job due to this issue and I would like information as to whether it is legal as described below:

I worked in a small office with two other people. The room is a rectangle with our three desks along the long side of the rectangle one after the other with mine the first one, nearest to the director’s office.

There are a camera and sign located outside the building which can be seen looking over the car park. I still do not know the location of the camera inside and there are no signs inside. My contract does not mention anything about camera surveillance of any kind. At no time was I advised specifically by the director I was under camera surveillance.

When I commenced work I realised about the camera surveillance but as the view initially showed the warehouse attached to the office, one of the boardrooms (the director's children were doing their homework downstairs) and one of the car park outside, I thought maybe naively, that there was a logic behind this.

The TV screen controlling the camera in the director’s office is split into about four or five views, one view is directly behind my back showing my computer (changed only approximately four months ago), one view lengthwise down the office from my desk to the end of the third desk (end of the room), one of the warehouse and one of the boardroom downstairs and one of the car park.

My question – in WA is this legal? Is it legal to be under camera surveillance constantly in such a small office? Could a copy of the tape have been requested? Can the Privacy Act come into play in this situation? Could I have taken my employer to Fair Work for unfair dismissal?

Thanks for any assistance and information which can be provided.
 

Scruff

Well-Known Member
25 July 2018
902
133
2,389
NSW
You are asking about unfair dismissal but only describe the situation regarding the cameras.

You need to provide some detail about how and why you were dismissed.

As for the cameras, surveillance in the workplace is perfectly legal in most cases. In regard to privacy, there is no problem there either unless recordings are given or shown to someone who shouldn't be seeing them.
 

Dulcie

Member
18 April 2019
3
0
1
I was accused of something I did not do, can't say much else due to the confidentiality clause in my contract, a very "controlling" workplace - all I wanted to know was the WA law. I have read on an Perth lawyer site for employment issues that employers have to notify employees about camera surveillance, provide a tape of the incident etc, I guess now this means that all those good laws apply to another state?
 

Rod

Lawyer
LawConnect (LawTap) Verified
27 May 2014
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2,894
www.hutchinsonlegal.com.au
You need to see a lawyer. The facts of the matter are what will determine the outcome. And you only have 21 days from dismissal if you have been sacked.

In some situations I can see a recording being OK, in other situations not OK.