Post by sparrow on Jun 30, 2007 10:52:05 GMT 12
Battle for his rights paid off
The Timaru Herald | Friday, 29 June 2007
Steve Hill has taken on the establishment, and won - now he wants to remind others of their rights when it comes to Government organisations.
The Timaru man has fought for nearly seven years with WINZ to get access to information they had on file about him, a right upheld by the Privacy Act, and eventually he was paid $3000 compensation and a formal apology for his arduous battle.
Principle 6 of the Privacy Act covers the individual right to access information about them which is held in a retrievable way.
In 2000 Mr Hill requested a copy of a letter written to WINZ, about him by an ex-partner. The letter was required because of an upcoming court case and he wanted to go to court armed with all the information he could get.
"They tried to make the excuse it was to protect an individual but the letter was about me and could have been relied on in court.
"You need to have access to that information in case it is incorrect."
Despite his concerns that material about him in the letter was incorrect, WINZ would not let him see the letter.
"They did send me a letter but substituted a different one.
"I knew my rights and knew it was a breach of principle 6 of the Privacy Act so I persisted."
Eventually after four-and-a-half years he got the letter, and then this year was given a formal apology and paid $3000 compensation for his troubles.
"It was accepted my rights under the Privacy Act had not been upheld and I was compensated for stress suffered for not having the letter at a court case and the time and effort I had, had to goto to get the letter.
"I'm glad I stuck it out. I don't think a lot of people know they have the right to see information held on file about them."
In a letter from the Ministry of Social Development they outlined they had paid compensation in the past between $50 and $7500 but payments at the top end of the scale related to when they had given out personal information putting people at risk of physical harm.
Mr Hill also asked what changes had been made and was told the people who responded to his request had been reprimanded and training material developed to assist staff in responding to information requests.
As for the $3000, Mr Hill doesn't know what he is going to with it yet.
The Timaru Herald | Friday, 29 June 2007
Steve Hill has taken on the establishment, and won - now he wants to remind others of their rights when it comes to Government organisations.
The Timaru man has fought for nearly seven years with WINZ to get access to information they had on file about him, a right upheld by the Privacy Act, and eventually he was paid $3000 compensation and a formal apology for his arduous battle.
Principle 6 of the Privacy Act covers the individual right to access information about them which is held in a retrievable way.
In 2000 Mr Hill requested a copy of a letter written to WINZ, about him by an ex-partner. The letter was required because of an upcoming court case and he wanted to go to court armed with all the information he could get.
"They tried to make the excuse it was to protect an individual but the letter was about me and could have been relied on in court.
"You need to have access to that information in case it is incorrect."
Despite his concerns that material about him in the letter was incorrect, WINZ would not let him see the letter.
"They did send me a letter but substituted a different one.
"I knew my rights and knew it was a breach of principle 6 of the Privacy Act so I persisted."
Eventually after four-and-a-half years he got the letter, and then this year was given a formal apology and paid $3000 compensation for his troubles.
"It was accepted my rights under the Privacy Act had not been upheld and I was compensated for stress suffered for not having the letter at a court case and the time and effort I had, had to goto to get the letter.
"I'm glad I stuck it out. I don't think a lot of people know they have the right to see information held on file about them."
In a letter from the Ministry of Social Development they outlined they had paid compensation in the past between $50 and $7500 but payments at the top end of the scale related to when they had given out personal information putting people at risk of physical harm.
Mr Hill also asked what changes had been made and was told the people who responded to his request had been reprimanded and training material developed to assist staff in responding to information requests.
As for the $3000, Mr Hill doesn't know what he is going to with it yet.
