Legal Report: Australia Establishes a Right to Disconnect Rule
Security Management’s Legal Report is a monthly column that highlights the instances where legal matters intersect with the security industry. Our team tracks court cases, new and developing legislation, and regulatory decisions or investigations that affect private organizations and security professionals worldwide.
To share a tip or notify Security Management about emerging legal issues, email Associate Editor Sara Mosqueda at [email protected].
Judicial Decisions
Australia
Discrimination. Networking app company Giggle for Girls will pay $10,000 AUS ($6,700 USD) to a transgender woman after the app discriminated against her due to her gender identity. A federal judge ruled that the company, which runs a female-only social media community, illegally but indirectly discriminated against the woman by barring her from the platform. A claim of direct discrimination failed. The case marks the first time the federal court ruled on gender identity discrimination since changes were made in 2013 to the Sex Discrimination Act.
Alleging that the company and its founder, Sally Grover, discriminated against her based on her gender identity, Roxanne Tickle filed the lawsuit after the app restricted her previously approved account. That restriction is suspected to have occurred when Grover reviewed the photo Tickle submitted to the app, deciding that the photo was of a man.
Despite Tickle’s attempts to contact Grover and regain access to the app—which was marketed as a social media and communication platform between women that doesn’t allow men to join or use it—Tickle remained barred, according to a statement from the judge. The Giggle platform shut down in 2022. (Tickle v. Giggle for Girls Ltd, Federal Court of Australia, No. NSD 1148 of 2022, 2024)
United States
Election security. A Colorado jury found former county clerk Tina Peters guilty of tampering with voting machines as part of an attempt to prove that the machines had been used to turn the 2020 election against former U.S. President Donald Trump.
Peters was convicted of seven criminal charges related to election interference for her attempts to breach a voting machine, which was produced by Dominion Voting Systems. She also granted an unauthorized user access to the machine, allowing him to capture sensitive data about Dominion’s software.
Peters is scheduled to be sentenced on 3 October. Read more about election interference risks here. (The People of the State of Colorado v. Tina Peters, Colorado District Court for Mesa County, No. 22cr371, 2024)
Racial discrimination. National paving company Asphalt Paving Systems agreed to a $1.25 million settlement to resolve a race discrimination lawsuit. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed the suit against the company on behalf of Black former employees who were allegedly subjected to severe and frequent harassment in the workplace.
The suit claimed that these employees were forced to work in degrading and humiliating conditions—such as forced to relieve themselves outdoors while white employees were granted use of indoor restrooms—and were also often called racial slurs. The hostility felt in the workplace was further exacerbated by managers and supervisors who engaged in physically threatening conduct, such as bringing guns to worksites and at least in one instance reaching for a firearm, according to an EEOC news release.
Besides the monetary relief, the company must also provide specialized training on race discrimination to managers and human resources officers, as well as appoint an outside monitor to review complaints involving race-based harassment. (EEOC v. Asphalt Paving Systems, Inc., U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, No. 8:23-cv-2169-JLB-UAM, 2024)
Legislation
Australia
Work-life balance. A new law grants employees the right to ignore their boss’s phone calls or other communications outside of regular working hours.
The “right to disconnect” rule—which is classified as a workplace right under general protection laws—went into effect on 26 August for all employers. According to the rule, “an employee can refuse to monitor, read, or respond to contact from an employer or a third party.” This does not mean managers are not allowed to contact workers after hours, but workers largely have the right to refuse to engage.
There are some exceptions to the law where it can be considered unreasonable for the employee to ignore the contact from the employer—for example, if the employee receives payment for working outside of their ordinary hours.
If a disagreement arises about an employee’s right to disconnect and it cannot be resolved between an employer and employee, the dispute can be submitted to the Fair Work Commission for consideration. The commission can issue a stop order or find another resolution. The commission may also order an employee to respond to his or her boss if the refusal to engage is considered unreasonable.
Violating the commission’s order can result in a fine of up to $19,000 AUD ($12,764) for employers and up to $94,000 AUD ($62,000) for a company.
Poland
Firearms. Both chambers of the Sejm, Poland’s parliament, approved legislation that grants uniformed personnel immunity when they use firearms at Poland’s eastern border, which is shared with Belarus.
The new law, introduced as poz. 1248, excludes soldiers and other officers from criminal liability under circumstances that would typically lie beyond the normal rules of engagement—including preventing an unlawful attack that is perceived to pose a threat to the life or health of the soldiers. The law went into effect on 17 August, after it was enacted by President Andrzej Duda.
Human rights lawyers are critical of the changes to Poland’s criminal code, arguing that it can generate abuse and endanger lives.
U.S. States
Retail security. New York’s governor enacted a new law that requires retailers to increase safety measures for store employees. Major retail chains—defined as companies that have at least 500 employees nationwide—are required to install silent alarms in their locations throughout the state.
The law, introduced as Assembly Bill A8947C (and more commonly known as the Retail Worker Safety Act) is the first state law to mandate silent alarms or panic buttons. In addition, retailers with 10 or more employees must adopt a violence prevention policy and keep records of any violent incidents for at least three years after the incident. The act will go into effect in March 2025.
Instead of a panic button, retailers can opt for a mobile-phone-based alarm device that can still send emergency responders an alert. The part of the law pertaining to panic buttons or personal alarm systems will be effective as of 1 January 2027.
Regulations
The Netherlands
Facial recognition. After an investigation, the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Dutch DPA) has fined Clearview AI €30.5 million ($34 million) for creating an illegal database of facial images, violating the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
The regulator also warned other companies that use of services from Clearview AI, an American facial recognition technology company, is illegal. The Dutch DPA elaborated that creating and using the database of photos of people’s faces, which were linked to unique biometric markers and other information, was illegal under the GDPR. The decision also noted that the database lacked sufficient transparency.
According to the investigation, the company collected photos from the Internet and did not secure consent from photos’ subjects for the use of their images.
Clearview will have to pay a €5 million additional fine if it fails to comply with the regulator’s order. Because it did not fight against the decision, the company cannot appeal the fine.
Also of Interest
Security Management tracks court cases, bills, laws, and regulatory issues that impact the security industry. Here are some of the stories that are of current interest.
Assault. The UK’s Crown Prosecution Service decided it will no longer continue to pursue charges of indecent assault against Harvey Weinstein, citing the expectation that a conviction against Weinstein was unlikely.
Election security. A man is facing federal charges related to a series of online threats he allegedly made against election officials in Arizona and Colorado, a state judge in Colorado, and federal law enforcement agents between September 2021 and August 2022. Teak Brockbank is charged with transmitting interstate threats and faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
Personal data. The Texas Attorney General filed a lawsuit against car manufacturer General Motors, accusing the company of misleading business practices, including illegally collecting drivers’ private data and selling that information to insurance companies without drivers’ consent or knowledge.
Prison safety. Three people, including a federal prison inmate, were charged with conspiring to mail drugs to the U.S. Penitentiary in Atwater, California. A supervisor in the prison’s mailroom died after opening a letter allegedly laced with substances including fentanyl.
Retail security. An Oakland County, Michigan jury found former shopping mall security guards Gaven King, Aaron Maree, and John Seiberling not guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the 2014 death of McKenzie Cochran. Although the death had initially been classified as an accident, the state’s attorney general filed charges in 2021 after Cochran’s family asked her to look into the case again.
Sexual assault. A former British police officer was arrested and charged with 17 charges of assault, including two counts of rape.
Unlawful detention. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the Adventist Health Tehachapi Valley Hospital, two correctional officers, and a doctor will pay a $5.6 million settlement to a California woman and wife of an inmate who was unlawfully strip searched when trying to visit her husband in prison.
Swatting. Two foreign nationals were indicted for actions relating to a conspiracy to conduct swatting attacks and bomb threats against U.S. victims that included senior government officials. The men are charged with one count of conspiracy, 29 counts of threats and false information regarding explosives, and four counts of transmitting threats in interstate and foreign commerce, according to the U.S. Secret Service.
