Victims of the biggest breach of privacy in New Zealand's history may not get compensation.© 2012 Television New Zealand Ltd
ACC will telephone and mail an apology to 6748 clients after details of more than 9000 confidential claims were sent to a member of the public.
Last August an ACC employee hit send on an email at corporation offices. Neither she nor ACC realised she had committed one of the worst breaches of privacy in the country's history. The email contained the names of 9000 claims, including 137 from ACC's highly confidential sensitive claims unit which handles delicate cases like sexual abuse.
ACC yesterday said anyone who would like to seek a settlement or compensation could write to the corporation's privacy officer and the issue would then be dealt with on a case by case basis.
Under the breach of Privacy Act victims can only be compensated if they can prove they have been harmed in some way, which includes humiliation and injury to feelings. But compensation will not be automatic - every case will have to be dealt with individually.
'A genuine mistake'
The boss of the Accident Compensation Corporation is vowing the mistake will not happen again. ACC chief executive Ralph Stewart arrived for a "please explain" meeting with the privacy commissioner Marie Shroff yesterday afternoon after he admitted earlier in the day that ACC broke the trust of thousands of New Zealanders.
"At ACC privacy is everything. We deal with clients who have accidents and their private and medical records. This will not happen again," Stewart said. "I apologise most profusely."
Stewart said the Auckland staff member who accidentally emailed the spreadsheet is distraught but her job is not at stake. "It was a genuine mistake. We found out in December from the person who received the email," Stewart said.
Shroff says the law may have been broken. "If it turns out that ACC has been negligent in dealing with clients' private information, there is potentially a breach of the Privacy Act," she said.
Inquiry into breach
ACC says no medical details were released - only claimants' names and reference numbers were sent out. It says the breach is only a fraction of the 1.6 million claims the corporation reviews each year, but admits it has only now recovered the data.
"The period between December and March is too long and not acceptable," Stewart said, adding that the corporation could have been more proactive.
The revelations has led to a call for an internal inquiry from ACC Minister Judith Collins.
But, the breach, and a smaller one two years ago, have some calling for an independent inquiry.
Green party co-leader Metiria Turei says the party is very concerned that the breach could be the result of "cost-cutting in the backroom".
Labour's ACC spokesperson Andrew Little is questioning why the serious breach of privacy was not raised during a select committee meeting earlier this month.
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/acc-privacy-breach-victims-may-not-get-compo-4775496
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