Your privacy and the Gig Worker Support Service

The Gig Worker Support Service (GWSS) values your privacy.

The GWSS is a service administered by Industrial Relations Victoria (IRV) within the Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC). IRV works towards achieving a positive working environment for all Victorians by engaging with Victorian employers, employees and their representatives and advocating for fair and productive workplaces, secure work and gender pay equity. The GWSS helps IRV to achieve this for gig workers and digital platform businesses engaged in the gig economy.

The GWSS is committed to improving fairness and support for gig workers. Our functions include providing information and advice or making a referral to other services to resolve disputes and promoting the Voluntary Fair Conduct and Accountability Standards.

The GWSS will only collect your personal information in order to perform its functions. Using your personal information to manage your enquiry enables the GWSS to analyse the issues your enquiry raises, including how those issues are impacting on you, consider possible options for resolving your enquiry and present those options to you.

How we collect your personal information

If you choose to provide personal information, it is treated confidentially. Your information could be collected when you make an enquiry to the GWSS using our online form or if you contact us by phone or email. Your personal information could be collected if you provide us with further information when we are contacting you. Wherever possible, we will collect personal information from you directly.

In limited circumstances, personal information may be collected from a third party (such as an advocate), but we would always contact you first and only collect the minimum necessary. We collect personal information directly from those using the service. If you provide information about someone else (indirect information about a third party), we will only collect the minimum amount of information about that person in order to assist with your enquiry. An example of where we might collect information from a third party would be if you asked us to contact that third party to clarify something.

De-identified information (information that is no longer identifiable and made anonymous) is automatically collected when you visit our website. You can access our home page and browse our website without disclosing to us your identity or your personal information.

Our website collects non-personal information using software techniques. GWSS may operate a Facebook page as an advert for our services which is not interactive so you cannot post personal information on it.

What information do we collect?

In most circumstances, you will know if the GWSS is collecting personal information from you because you will be asked to provide it for the GWSS to manage your enquiry. For example, if you submit a form to contact the GWSS through this website, we will ask you to provide personal information such as your name, email address, contact phone number on the enquiry form and we may also collect sensitive information (such as whether you are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander) or health information (such as whether you have a disability).

Personal information is collected and is de-identified so the GWSS can plan services or improvements, for forecasting and mitigating risks, and to evaluate whether the GWSS service is reaching the people who need it and those it is intended for. We de-identify your information so that any personal information we collect and use for identifying user trends for reporting or strategic purposes is anonymised and aggregated when generating reports.

How we use your information

We collect your personal information in order to perform our functions of managing your enquiry (including providing information, general advice, making a referral, and for reporting purposes). We will use your personal information to contact you directly either by phone or email in order to respond to your enquiry, seek further information or before making a referral. We will use the information you provide us to manage your enquiry which includes analysing the issues and how they are impacting on you, considering possible options for resolving your enquiry and presenting those options to you. These options could include a recommendation to approach another government agency who may be able to assist you.

In some circumstances we will support you to resolve your enquiry by directly referring you to one of our partner agencies such as Community Legal Centres. You will be contacted prior to any referral. This will involve using your personal information such as your email or phone number to contact you directly.

With your consent, the GWSS may make a referral to organisations such as WorkSafe Victoria (for workplace health and safety issues), the Victorian Small Business Commission (for mediation between a platform and a gig worker), Wage Inspectorate Victoria (for enquiries and assistance related to matters such as compliance with wage theft, long service leave or owner drivers laws), Community Legal Centres (for legal information, advice or sometimes assistance) and the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission (helps with complaints about discrimination, sexual harassment, racial vilification or victimisation).

We use de-identified information to report on our activities and for strategic purposes. For example, for planning services or improvements, to forecast and mitigate risks or to evaluate whether the GWSS is reaching those it is intended for.

Using or disclosing your information for Referrals

The GWSS has two types of referrals. We mostly make referrals to another organisation by recommending that organisation to you and providing you with information so you can choose to take the next step and contact them. We may also make a direct referral but we will contact you first if we do. If we are referring you directly from GWSS to another agency or organisation, we will do this by email. We consider what outcomes you are seeking from the GWSS and the kinds of agencies or organisations we may refer your enquiry to.

Use or disclosure of Personal Information

We will not disclose your personal information without your consent, except if required or authorised to do so by law.

We will not use or disclose any information that we collect through our website or from any enquiry made to us unless the use or disclosure is:

• for the primary purpose the information was collected;
• for a related secondary purpose, which an individual ought to reasonably expect in the circumstances, this may include reporting or strategic purposes;
• required or authorised by law, or
• for any other purpose permitted under Victorian privacy laws.

When you make an enquiry

When you make your enquiry, your enquiry will be assigned a case number (also known as a unique identifier). This number means when you ring or email us again about your enquiry you can refer to the number and it, along with the other personal information you previously provided to us, can confirm you are who you say you are. We can also confirm to you that we are from the GWSS should we need to contact you. We will only share your case number in limited circumstances and only if we make a direct referral to an organisation.

You may make an enquiry anonymously if you wish. If you do, assistance to you may be limited as the GWSS will not be able to make a direct referral to another organisation or contact you further in relation to your enquiry because we will not be able to validate who you are. We collect, use, store and share your personal information as allowed by the Victorian legislation on public records and privacy, including under the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 and for health information, under the Health Records Act 2001

Protecting the information GWSS collects

We take reasonable steps to protect all information provided by you and stored in our case management system. We protect your personal information, which might include not only personal information under the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014, but also possibly health information under the Health Records Act 2001 (for example, if you told us that a disability was impacting on your ability to resolve your enquiry). We protect this information from misuse and loss from unauthorised access, modification and disclosure.

We have a number of procedural, software and hardware safeguards in place and information is stored in access-controlled premises or in electronic databases protected by logins and passwords.

Contacting us about your Privacy and your Personal Information

If you have any concerns about your privacy or you wish to access or correct your personal information, you can contact us by email info.gwss@dpc.vic.gov.au or by phoning 1800 000 478. You may also submit a request under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) as your request may be handled under the FOI Act. You can also view our Privacy Policy above and DPC’s Privacy Policy.

The GWSS is a service administered by Industrial Relations Victoria (IRV) within the Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC). IRV works towards achieving a positive working environment for all Victorians by engaging with Victorian employers, employees and their representatives, and advocating for fair and productive workplaces, secure work and gender pay equity. The GWSS helps IRV to achieve this for gig workers and digital platform businesses engaged in the gig economy.

The GWSS is committed to improving fairness and support for gig workers. Our functions include providing information and advice or making a referral to other services to resolve disputes and promoting the Voluntary Fair Conduct and Accountability Standards.

The GWSS will only collect your personal information in order to perform its functions. Using your personal information to manage your enquiry enables the GWSS to analyse the issues your enquiry raises, including how those issues are impacting on you, consider possible options for resolving your enquiry and present those options to you.

The GWSS values your privacy. This privacy statement explains how and why we collect your personal information and how we use it. It should be read in conjunction with our collection notice which appears on our online enquiry form.

How we collect your personal information

If you choose to provide personal information, it is treated confidentially. Your information could be collected when you make an enquiry to the GWSS using our online form or if you contact us by phone or email. Your personal information could be collected if you provide us with further information when we are contacting you. Wherever possible, we will collect personal information from you directly.

In limited circumstances, personal information may be collected from a third party (such as an advocate), but we would always contact you first and only collect the minimum necessary. We collect personal information directly from those using the service. If you provide information about someone else (indirect information about a third party), we will only collect the minimum amount of information about that person in order to assist with your enquiry. An example of where we might collect information from a third party would be if you asked us to contact that third party to clarify something.

De-identified information (information that is no longer identifiable and made anonymous) is automatically collected when you visit our website. You can access our home page and browse our website without disclosing to us your identity or your personal information.

Our website collects non-personal information using software techniques. The sections below about cookies and click-stream data provide further information about this.

GWSS may operate a Facebook page as an advert for our services which is not interactive so you cannot post personal information on it. See below under social media.

What information do we collect?

In most circumstances, you will know if the GWSS is collecting personal information from you because you will be asked to provide it for the GWSS to manage your enquiry. For example, if you submit a form to contact the GWSS through this website, we will ask you to provide personal information such as your name, email address, contact phone number on the enquiry form and we may also collect sensitive information (such as whether you are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander) or health information (such as whether you have a disability).

Personal information is collected and is de-identified so the GWSS can plan services or improvements, for forecasting and mitigating risks, and to evaluate whether the GWSS service is reaching the people who need it and those it is intended for. We de-identify your information so that any personal information we collect and use for identifying user trends for reporting or strategic purposes is anonymised and aggregated when generating reports.

How we use the information

We collect your personal information in order to perform our functions of managing your enquiry (including providing information, general advice, making a referral, and for reporting purposes). We will use your personal information to contact you directly either by phone or email in order to respond to your enquiry, seek further information or before making a referral. We will use the information you provide us to manage your enquiry which includes analysing the issues and how they are impacting on you, considering possible options for resolving your enquiry and presenting those options to you. These options could include a recommendation to approach another government agency who may be able to assist you.

In some circumstances we will support you to resolve your enquiry by directly referring you to one of our partner agencies such as Community Legal Centres. You will be contacted prior to any referral. This will involve using your personal information such as your email or phone number to contact you directly.

With your consent, the GWSS may make a referral to organisations such as WorkSafe Victoria (for workplace health and safety issues), the Victorian Small Business Commission (for mediation between a platform and a gig worker), Wage Inspectorate Victoria (assists workers with wage theft or long service enquiries), Community Legal Centres (for legal information, advice or sometimes assistance) and the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission (helps with complaints about discrimination, sexual harassment, racial vilification or victimisation).

We use de-identified information to report on our activities and for strategic purposes. For example, for planning services or improvements, to forecast and mitigate risks or to evaluate whether the GWSS is reaching those it is intended for.

Using or disclosing your information for referrals

The GWSS has two types of referrals. We mostly make referrals to another organisation by recommending that organisation to you and providing you with information so you can choose to take the next step and contact them. We may also make a direct referral but we will contact you first if we do. If we are referring you directly from GWSS to another agency or organisation, we will do this by email.

We consider what outcomes you are seeking from the GWSS. The kinds of agencies or organisations we may refer your enquiry to include, but are not limited to:

• Community Legal Centres for legal information, advice or sometimes assistance
• Fair Work Commission (Australia’s workplace relations tribunal) for enabling an independent contractor or employee to make an application related to bullying, sexual harassment or general protections (‘adverse action’ complaints)
• Fair Work Ombudsman for assistance to resolve a workplace issue or dispute, where a worker is an employee or their work status is in dispute. It may also investigate allegations of ‘sham contracting’ (where a person working as an employee is told they are an independent contractor when they’re not)
• Safe Transport Victoria for information on rights and obligations for owner drivers and passenger vehicle owners/drivers
• Transport Accident Commission for making a claim for compensation after a worker has been injured in a traffic accident.
• Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission for making a complaint about discrimination, sexual harassment, victimisation or racial vilification.
• Victorian Small Business Commission for mediation of a dispute, for example, where an independent contractor dispute arises with a business platform about pay or entitlements (including negotiating rates) or a disputed account; or for owner drivers in a dispute with their platform under the Owner Drivers and Forestry Contractors Act 2005 (the ODFC Act), under the Code of Practice or under their contract.
• Wage Inspectorate Victoria for enquiries and assistance related to matters such as compliance with wage theft, long service leave or owner drivers laws
• WorkSafe Victoria for reporting a health and safety incident/concern about working conditions or information about worker OHS obligations.

Other Legal Requirements for Use or Disclosure of Personal Information

We will not disclose your personal information without your consent, except if required or authorised to do so by law.

We will not use or disclose any information that we collect through our website or from any enquiry made to us unless the use or disclosure is:

• for the primary purpose the information was collected;
• for a related secondary purpose, which an individual ought to reasonably expect in the circumstances, this may include reporting or strategic purposes;
• required or authorised by law, or
• for any other purpose permitted under Victorian privacy laws.

When you make an enquiry

When you make your enquiry, your enquiry will be assigned a case number (also known as a unique identifier). This number means when you ring or email us again about your enquiry you can refer to the number and it, along with the other personal information you previously provided to us, can confirm you are who you say you are. We can also confirm to you that we are from the GWSS should we need to contact you. We will only share your case number in limited circumstances and only if we make a direct referral to an organisation.

You may make an enquiry anonymously if you wish. If you do, assistance to you may be limited as the GWSS will not be able to make a direct referral to another organisation or contact you further in relation to your enquiry because we will not be able to validate who you are. We collect, use, store and share your personal information as allowed by the Victorian legislation on public records and privacy, including under the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 and for health information, under the Health Records Act 2001

Any personal information that we collect and use for identifying user trends is anonymised and aggregated when generating reports.

Protecting the information GWSS collects

We take reasonable steps to protect all information provided by you and stored in our case management system. We protect your personal information, which might include not only personal information under the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014, but also possibly health information under the Health Records Act 2001 (for example, if you told us that a disability was impacting on your ability to resolve your enquiry). We protect this information from misuse and loss from unauthorised access, modification and disclosure.

We have a number of procedural, software and hardware safeguards in place and information is stored in access-controlled premises or in electronic databases protected by logins and passwords.

The GWSS is committed to ensuring compliance with the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014. Risks associated with a single person entity domain accessed by both the Wage Inspectorate Victoria (WIV) and GWSS are managed through compliance with privacy laws and protocols between WIV and the GWSS as set out in an MoU. The MoU exists to ensure there are appropriate controls in place to manage the risks of misuse or loss of personal information created, generated or stored by the GWSS.

Cookies

We use first-party cookies and JavaScript code to collect information about visitors to this website. We use these to track how our visitors interact with this website, including where they came from and what they did on the site. If you don't want to have cookies placed on your computer, you can disable them using your web browser. You will need to customise each web browser you use to turn off cookie tracking. If you opt out of using cookies, you will still have access to all the information and resources provided by this website, though some features may not work as expected.

Automatic collection of information

Some information is generated through the automatic collection of data when you visit our website. This is known as Click-stream data and is non-personal information automatically generated by the web server and includes details such as your server address, domain name, operating system, the date, time and pages visited. This data is collected at an aggregate ‘user trend’ level to assist in maintaining and improving the service level experienced by users of our website. The website collection tool is known as Google Analytics.

This tool helps us to analyse how the site is used and improve governance. The information analysed by Google Analytics does not enable us to identify who you are but will also help us to understand the information needs of the public and users of the GWSS. Google Analytics is a third-party software vendor. From time to time, it may alter how it collects and handles personal information.

When accessing or using our website, be aware that there are risks associated with transmitting information across the Internet. We take reasonable steps to protect all information collected through the website from misuse and loss from unauthorised access, modification and disclosure.

Security

We have a number of procedural, software and hardware safeguards in place and information is stored in access-controlled premises or in electronic databases protected by login and password. If you are concerned about security of your data, you should contact us via telephone 1800 000 478 or email info.gwss@dpc.vic.gov.au.

Social Media

For a limited period, in conjunction with an advertising campaign to raise awareness of the service, the GWSS will have a social media account on Facebook but unlike many Facebook accounts you will not be able to upload or post any personal information on the GWSS Facebook page. This is because it is not interactive but is, in essence, an advertisement only. However, as with all Facebook pages, and other social media channels, the GWSS Facebook page operates outside the control of the Department of Premier and Cabinet. When using Facebook, you agree to its Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy which allows the transfer of your information outside Victoria. Most of your activity on social media is accessible to anyone using the same channel. We do not have control over these settings. We recommend that you check the privacy settings of your social media accounts to understand what information you are making public.

Access and Correction

The GWSS takes reasonable steps to ensure the personal information it collects and uses is accurate, complete and up-to-date. For example, by entering information in our case management system at the time you provide it to us.

Where practicable, we will check the accuracy of personal information before we use it.

You may request access to, or correction of, documents that contain your personal information which are in our possession. For information on how to make a request for access or correction, please contact us via info.gwss@dpc.vic.gov.au.

In some instances, your request for access or correction will be handled in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic).

This Privacy Statement

This privacy statement only applies to the GWSS and the GWSS website and does not apply to linked websites.

For further information about how DPC manages privacy, please refer to DPC’s Privacy Policy.

Please contact GWSS at info.gwss@dpc.vic.gov.au should you have any queries.