Office of the Privacy Commissioner | Case Note 8744 [1996] NZPrivCmr 6: Employee objects to employer questioning doctor about medical condition
Please note: this does not reflect current law. Under the Privacy Act 2020 'collect' means to take any step to seek or obtain information.
An employee faxed her employer a medical certificate, hand-written by a doctor, explaining that she was ill and could not go to work. The employer claimed the certificate was illegible and contacted the doctor to verify that the certificate was in order. The staff member complained that her employer had tried to obtain information about her illness. Her complaint appeared to be based on a breach of principle 2, which states personal information should be collected directly from the individual concerned.
During the investigation we learned that the doctor had been asked about the employee's medical condition. However, she refused to pass on any details. The employer sent a letter of apology to the employee but she was not satisfied the apology was an adequate settlement of her complaint.
We formed the opinion that the attempt to collect information from the doctor was not a breach of principle 2, since no information had been collected.