ACC has paid out almost $50,000 for eight privacy breaches in the past three years.© 2012 Fairfax NZ News
It refused to reveal the amount of each payment, other than to say that none was for more than $15,000. The payments contrast with offers of just $250 each to clients of the sensitive claims unit whose privacy has been breached in recent cases.
The corporation's privacy practices have been under the spotlight since The Dominion Post revealed in March that ACC had mistakenly released the names and details of 6500 claimants, including 250 sensitive-claims clients who are victims of sexual abuse and violent crimes. The blowout has seen the departure of ACC chairman John Judge, chief executive Ralph Stewart and board members John McCliskie, Rob Campbell and Murray Hilder. Both the privacy commissioner and auditor-general are investigating the breach.
Details provided under the Official Information Act show that, from 2009-11, ACC made eight payments totalling $48,897 for privacy breaches. It declined to provide a summary of each breach, although it agreed to provide a generic description.
Last month, ACC sent apology letters to those sensitive-claims clients who had expressed their anger at the recent breach and offered $250 if they agreed to stay silent. One client, who received her letter only last week, said she found the offer insulting. ACC had breached her privacy several times in the past and had been forced to pay her a "significant" amount, but despite this it kept happening.
"It's just crap, and it reeks of ACC trying to cover its rear end.
"I think for those that maybe this is a first time it may be reasonable. However ... I don't give a toss what they say about how much or how little the information is, the fact is my name and details were going around the countryside."
Lawyer John Miller, who specialises in ACC cases, said while the recent privacy breach may have been towards the lower end of the scale, many people knew that some clients had received thousands of dollars in other cases. It was hard to know if the $250 was simply a starting negotiating price from ACC, but regardless he believed the offer was a "derisory" sum that "just adds fuel to the fire".
"Rather than low amounts of money, it's often better sending a substantial gift basket with someone coming around apologising."
An ACC spokesman said it would be wrong to comment publicly on any details of financial settlements provided to clients. Details about how many $250 offers had been made and and accepted could not be provided at this stage, he said.
Privacy Breach Payouts (2009-2011)
Generic details of eight breaches provided by ACC:
2 – Released claim information to an unauthorised third party.
2 – Delay in providing personal information to a client.
1 – Requesting information from a medical provider that was not limited to the client's claim.
1 – Withheld personal information incorrectly and delayed in providing personal information to a client.
1 – Failed to provide personal information to a client.
1 – Released claim information to medical providers who were not relevant for the purpose of an assessment.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/7243065/Cool-response-to-ACC-payout-offer
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