Third-party payments

[Big Trev]

My employer (sub-contractor) has sent my personal & banking details to a third party (a financial institution) without consultation.
They have decided that all payments from all suppliers need to go through this third party, otherwise they will not pay any invoices.
I was of the understanding that the Privacy & Confidentiallity Legislation would prevent the passing of personal details to a third party.
Is this the norm and have the authority to do this.

 

[Docupedia]

This is very broad brush, but it's a starting place (and does depend on the exact data sent). It's also important to understand that the Privacy Act doesn't apply to every business. That aside, look at what has been communicated, to whom, and why. There are express and implied authorities to use private information where reasonable - otherwise what's the point of giving it to someone? This can range from the exact reason it was provided, to a collateral reason (e.g. identification verification, or record keeping), to a requirement to collect and report under legislation, to disclose under a court order.

So, the question becomes, why? If it is to facilitate payment of your remuneration - that would appear to be a reasonable use, so long as the information given was relevant to that purpose. If it's not connected to that, or the information given was unreasonable to the use (e.g. details of your work history), then it would be worth a further look.