SA Pathology worker who had mental breakdown after discovering a spy camera wins worker’s compensation
SA PATHOLOGY’S use of a hidden camera to spy on its workers has been condemned as a Big Brother-style tactic after it pushed an overworked employee into a “psychological collapse”.
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SA PATHOLOGY’S use of a hidden camera to spy on its workers has been condemned as a Big Brother-style tactic after it pushed an overworked employee into a “psychological collapse”.
The Employment Tribunal compared the covert operation as something out of a George Orwell novel — and so totalitarian it “beggars belief”.
Overturning a 2016 decision to cut the worker’s compensation payments, the tribunal expressed its dismay that SA Pathology would resort to surveillance instead of trying to communicate with their employees.
The worker, who is thought to have been employed in the mail room at SA Pathology’s Frome St laboratory, had a “psychological collapse” because of soaring workloads and the discovery that he was being spied on.
The tribunal concluded that he was susceptible to mental collapse if he returned to work and ruled that he receive workers compensation.
“It was conceded that if the worker suffered an injury it was work-caused and the work element was significant,” the members of the Tribunal said in their published reasons.
“On the facts of this case, one would find it difficult to conclude otherwise. By an objective measure, the conduct of management in the circumstances beggars belief.
“Perhaps a generation informed by the writings of George Orwell might have appreciated the scale of the behaviour.”
On October 13, 2014, the man spotted what he thought was a smoke detector on the ceiling of his workplace but discovered it was a hidden camera installed to spy on workers in the mail room.
He has not returned to work since the discovery of the camera, later telling several expert psychologists that it was the “last straw”.
The worker received treatment between May, 2012 and October, 2014, for stress and anxiety bought on by an ever-increasing workload as other workers left but were not replaced.
This escalated to the point that he had to call in sick at the mere sight of the building where he worked.
In December 2014, SA Pathology admitted they had installed the spy cameras because of “excessive” delays in the dispatch of crucial test results.
Then SA Pathology executive director Ken Barr said at the time that he had no regrets about the covert surveillance and admitted having two cameras installed in the mail room out of fears for patient care.
In June 2016, Mr Barr was dismissed from his role with SA Pathology in the wake of false positive results issued to prostate cancer patients.
The worker’s case will return to the panel for a final decision in coming months.
