Can my employer contact my new employer?

Question

Accepted Answer

If a former employer wants to disclose information about you, they need to be satisfied that one of the exceptions to principle 11 of the Privacy Act applies.
These exceptions allow an agency to disclose information about you for a range of reasons, such as if you authorise the disclosure, to avoid prejudice to the maintenance of the law, or to prevent serious harm.
But a former employer giving an unsolicited reference to your new employer is unlikely to meet the requirements of any of the exceptions. If you are concerned your former employer has done this, you should contact them first.
You can contact the Privacy Commission if you think your privacy has been breached.
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