An employer's records on an employee are, at least at
present, not protected under privacy legislation. They are, after
all, the employer's records. But, surely, an employee's
Facebook account (i.e. not the employer's records at all) is
"personal information" that should not be accessed or
used by an employer without that employee's permission?
The answer, or at least the answer according to Justice Bell of
the Victorian Supreme Court, is one that many Facebook users will
probably not 'like'.
In Jurecek v Transport Safety Victoria [2016] VSC 285,
the employer (a government agency) accessed information on an
employee's personal Facebook account and used that information
as part of an investigation into alleged misconduct on social media
by that employee – and they didn't tell the employee they
were doing it. The Court found that such action was permissible as
it was a reasonable and necessary part of the employer's
investigation process and did not arbitrarily or
