New South Wales Consolidated Acts

WORKPLACE SURVEILLANCE ACT 2005 - SECT 22

22 Defence-surveillance for security of the workplace

(1) It is a defence to a prosecution for an offence against this Part involving the covert surveillance of an employee at a workplace of an employer for the employer to prove that:

(a) the surveillance was carried out, or caused to be carried out, solely for the purpose of ensuring the security of the workplace or persons in it and that surveillance of any employee was extrinsic to that purpose, and

(b) there was a real and significant likelihood of the security of the workplace or persons in it being jeopardised if covert surveillance was not carried out, and

(c) the employer notified employees at the workplace (or a body representing a substantial number of the employees) in writing of the intended surveillance for that purpose before it was carried out.

(2) Evidence of any surveillance record made as a consequence of surveillance of employees in the workplace for the purpose referred to in this section that is unrelated to the security of the workplace or persons in the workplace is not to be admitted in evidence in any disciplinary or legal proceedings against an employee unless the desirability of admitting the evidence outweighs the undesirability of admitting evidence that has been obtained in the way in which the evidence was obtained.