A job-seeker was enrolled with the New Zealand Employment Service (NZES). At a 'Work Focus' interview she was asked whether she was receiving counselling. When she queried why this question was asked she was told her file indicated she had a problem with drug and alcohol abuse. She said that was incorrect, and at her request the comment was deleted.

The job-seeker alleged NZES had not taken steps to ensure the information on her file was accurate and this was a breach of information privacy principle 8. She claimed the entry on her file had been responsible for her not finding a job.

NZES was unable to establish the source of the information. However, it did note the information would have been available only to NZES employees and would not have been supplied to prospective employers. There was no evidence that the information had been disclosed to any third party or that it had affected her job opportunities.

Principle 8 says:

An agency that holds personal information shall not use that information without taking such steps (if any) as are, in the circumstances, reasonable to ensure that, having regard to the purpose for which the information is proposed to be used, the information is accurate, up to date, complete, relevant, and not misleading.

I had to consider whether the storing and retrieval of the information about the job seeker constituted a 'use' of the information for the purposes of principle 8. I considered that 'use', for the purposes of principle 8, requires something more than this. It implies that in order to show that usage has occurred, the retrieval has to be followed by some act. This had not occurred before the information was deleted.

I also noted that the job-seeker was given an opportunity at the interview to check and update her record. I considered this was a reasonable step to ensure that information was accurate before it was used and formed the opinion that principle 8 had not been breached.

July 1997

Indexing terms: Accuracy of personal information - New Zealand Employment Service - Whether storage and retrieval of personal information alone might constitute 'use' - Information privacy principle 8