A $275,000 class action payout to NSW Ambulance workers will serve as a 'lesson to all businesses' about private data breaches
A $275,000 class action payout to NSW Ambulance workers will serve as a "lesson to all businesses" about private data breaches, their solicitor says.
In an Australian first, Justice Julie Ward on Monday accepted a settlement of a class action led by Tracy Evans against the NSW Ambulance Service over a major data breach. NSW Ambulance paramedics sued for breach of confidence and invasion of privacy after a contractor sold their medical records to a third party.Justice Ward said Ms Evans would receive three times as much as the average claimant in the class action, with 108 workers in total receiving payment.
"I think this is a fantastic result for 108 NSW ambulance workers who have had their workers' compensation files unlawfully accessed and extracts of it sold to at least one law firm," solicitor George Newhouse told reporters outside the Law Courts Building on Monday.Mr Newhouse, from firm Centennial Lawyers, said the "reasonable" payout also had broader implications.
"This is the first privacy class action in Australia - it's the first to go to court and it's the first to settle in this way," he said."Employers need to be extremely careful with the data that they collect on their employees and they need to maintain privacy.
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