Your rights: Free cuppa not guaranteed

By RICK HARGREAVES of Phillips Fox

Q. Are employers obliged to provide tea and coffee for staff?

A. There is no legal requirement for an employer to provide tea and coffee but it would be unusual for them not to.

In New Zealand there has been a long-standing custom and practice for employers to supply tea and coffee.

However, such past practices can be set aside provided that an employer gives their employees adequate and reasonable notice of their intention to do so.

Often older individual employment agreements and union boilerplate collective agreements require the employer to provide tea and coffee.

Company policies and house rules may also give an employee an entitlement to these beverages.

You will need to look through your employment agreement and the company's policies to see if your employer is obliged to provide you with tea and coffee.

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Q. My boss is accusing me of stealing. They installed a hidden camera in the bathroom without our consent, placed a bracelet on the bench to trap a thief (not me) and saw me pick it up and place it in my bag. I had no intention to steal it, just meant to ask my friend if it was hers. I did not leave the property. What can I do?

A. The Privacy Commissioner's view has been that an employer should inform employees that surveillance cameras have been set up in the workplace unless there is a good reason not to inform them.

A good reason for covert surveillance may be that there has been an allegation or some evidence of serious misconduct, and advising that surveillance is in place would defeat the objective of detecting the misconduct.

Under the information privacy principles in the Privacy Act an employer cannot use a collection method that is unfair, unlawful or which intrudes unreasonably on personal privacy.

In most circumstances videotaping in a toilet or washroom area will be considered unreasonably intrusive.

The Privacy Commissioner has suggested that surveillance cameras should be kept out of washrooms and toilets unless there are truly extraordinary circumstances that warrant it.

Basically, unless there are extraordinary reasons, areas where employees can expect complete privacy (for instance, toilet facilities and washrooms) should not be subject to covert surveillance.

You should engage an employment advocate to assist you in dealing with this employment relationship problem. You should also ask your boss to provide a written response outlining his or her purpose for the covert surveillance in the bathroom; whether the surveillance was conducted only during relevant time periods; whether the surveillance was restricted to the smallest possible area; and who has had access to the personal information collected by the surveillance camera.

Based on the response of your boss to these questions, your employment advocate will be able to advise you on whether you should make a complaint to the Privacy Commissioner.

It is possible that the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) will decide that it was unfair and a breach of good faith for your boss to set up covert surveillance in breach of the Privacy Act.

But any remedy you may receive from the ERA could be reduced because your conduct in not promptly handing in the bracelet may have contributed to the employment relationship problem.

Your boss should arrange a meeting where you can explain your intentions in regard to the bracelet. As you did not take it from the workplace, your boss may have to accept your explanation.

* Rick Hargreaves is a solicitor at Phillips Fox, specialising in employment law.

Employment Relations Service

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