Victim pursues ACC privacy file complaint

An article from the Whakatane Beacon by Samantha Motion

A sexual abuse victim says there is evidence her confidential file was opened and read when it was sent to a Matata dairy by ACC without her name on it last year.
ACC has accepted the package was incorrectly addressed to the Matata Superstore and has apologised for breaching the woman’s privacy, saying it was the result of human error in its mailroom.
The woman said as a result of the breach, her home was vandalised, she received phone calls, emails and visits from strangers and became afraid to leave her house.
She and her husband suffered irreparable damage and believed they could no longer live in Matata.
In a letter to the woman’s lawyer, ACC privacy officer Miriama Henderson acknowledged the woman and her husband experienced a “stressful time”.
After originally offering a $10,000 settlement, however, the corporation reneged.
Ms Henderson said it did not believe a financial settlement was “appropriate” on the basis that the harm caused to the woman had resulted from media reports about the incident and the woman’s “belief” that shop workers had read and disclosed information about her.
“ACC did not approach the media about [the woman’s] case and the evidence obtained in the investigation indicates that people working at the store did not disclose information.”
The woman was angry after initially learning of the privacy breach and contacted some national media organisations. The incident also featured in the Beacon.
Ms Henderson said the store owner had been spoken to during ACC’s investigation of the incident.
He admitted opening the package to find out who it was for, but was adamant no-one had read the contents or discussed it with members of the public.
Yesterday the woman said her lawyer had obtained letters from people who had been given details from the file, and excerpts from internet message boards where posters referred to the incident and the woman’s personal information.
She said one of the posts alleged the dairy owner talked to the poster’s mother about the contents of the file.
The woman is pursuing her complaint with the Privacy Commission.
Recently ACC’s Office of the Complaints Investigator found the corporation’s Sensitive Claims Unit had breached the woman’s rights 40 times.
They included unreasonable delays in processing and assessing her claims and failure observe her rights in line with the code of claimant’s rights.

© 2010 Whakatane Beacon
http://www.whakatanebeacon.co.nz/cms/news/2011/02/art10008769.php