Recently the department has, in various forms, asked staff for information about their health and any risk factors they may have in light of COVID-19.
While this is done to ensure a safe workplace, and the department wants to keep staff as safe as possible, this info still needs to be kept private.
We’ve brought this up with human resources and sought written assurance about what happens with the information, who has it, where it's stored and, importantly, what happens to it post COVID-19.
In a nutshell, they'e treating the information gathered in the same way they'd treat info about a non-compensable injury.
We’ll continue to keep a close eye on the matter to ensure members' privacy and industrial rights are protected.