1 Feb 2008, 09:00

A couple was looking for accommodation for the night and found a motel that had vacancies. The woman said that she was verbally abused by motel staff during their stay. Later, the woman wrote to an industry association complaining about the service she had received. The association forwarded her letter to the motel and requested that it respond to the woman directly.

The woman complained to me that she did not consent to her name and contact details being disclosed to the motel. While she accepted that the substance of her complaint needed to be addressed, the woman considered that her name and contact details should not have been disclosed, because the complaint was about alleged abuse.

She said that she had never intended her details to be disclosed to the person who abused her. The couple had not provided their contact details to the motel, because a booking form had never been completed.

I considered this complaint under principle 11. This provides that an agency that holds personal information should not disclose it without the individual's consent, or unless one of the exceptions to principle 11 applies.

The association relied on principle 11(a) and 11(d) to disclose the woman's details.

Principle 11(a) says that an agency may disclose personal information if the disclosure is one of the purposes in connection with which the information was obtained or is directly related to that purpose.

Principle 11(d) provides that personal information may be disclosed if the disclosure is authorised by the individual concerned.

The association said that it was extremely difficult to fully investigate a complaint without the motel concerned knowing the substance of the complaint and who was making it. It said the woman provided her details with the intent of advising the association of the poor service provided by one of its members. It also said the woman expected it to investigate her concerns and it was the association's policy to pass complaints onto the motel complained about.

I agreed that the motel needed to be aware of the substance of the complaint for reasons of natural justice. However, where a complaint involved abusive and intimidating behaviour I considered that it would be preferable, where possible, for the substance of a complaint to be conveyed without disclosing a complainant's contact details. In this situation, the association's actions did not breach the Privacy Act, but they caused difficulties for the complainant involved.

The association accepted my suggestion to change its complaints policy so that where abusive behaviour is complained about, it would not disclose the contact details of a complainant. I considered this was a sensible change of policy and I discontinued the investigation.

March 2008

Disclosure of personal information – industry association – complaint made to industry association about abusive behaviour by member – contact details of complainant disclosed to member – early resolution – policy change – principle 11(a), 11(d)