ACC whistleblower surprised not to hear from investigators

ACC staff poked fun at people who had injured themselves while drunk or intoxicated by drugs. Photo / RNZ, Vinay Ranchhod

By Anusha Bradley for RNZ

An ACC employee who blew the whistle on call-centre staff sharing and laughing at client details in a private Snapchat group says no one from the agency has been in touch with them about the matter.

They were among 12 employees from the Hamilton branch to be stood down while ACC investigated the matter. A further two employees from Dunedin have also been stood down for sharing client information, pending investigation.

The whistleblower said they had been expecting to be interviewed by the investigation team but had not heard from anyone. It was strange that ACC did not appear to be interested in hearing from all 12 employees in the Snapchat group, they said.

"ACC has never contacted me at all. Still to this day not one person has asked me about the investigation. I completely feel like they're sweeping it under the carpet."

ACC said the investigation was still continuing.

A source, however, told RNZ there had been a plethora of information provided to the investigation.

Meanwhile, there had been 30 ACC employees investigated for 36 information, privacy or data breaches in the last 12 months, ACC Minister Carmel Sepuloni said.

The figures were revealed in response to a parliamentary written question from National MP Melissa Lee.

Of the 36 incidents, 11 were still under active management, nine investigations resulted in warnings, one in a dismissal and two staff subject to an investigation subsequently resigned, a spokesperson for the ACC minister said.