Employment and privacy in the surveillance age

Earlier this month, the ABC reported that a recruitment subcontractor for the Queensland Gas Corporation was conducting mandatory blood testing of job applicants in order to determine their risk of serious and life threatening conditions including high cholesterol and risk of heart attack. Candidates were told their job application was conditional on submitting to the blood test and were further required to sign a waiver authorising the recruiter, SNC Lavalin, to send their health information, medical records and blood samples overseas to countries without the same standard of privacy protection as in Australia.

In the broader context of employers seeking to manage risk by obtaining access to a wider range of employee data and increasing workplace surveillance to monitor attendance and productivity, this incident is a timely reminder of the need for employers to exercise caution when seeking to collect biometric or health information from their employees (or