January

"Combat soldiers with a criminal past will be given a ""second chance,"" according to a bill approved by the Knesset plenum. The bill, initiated by MK Orly Levy-Abecassis (Likud Beytenu), who is the chairwoman of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, would allow at-risk youth who underwent rehabilitation during their military service and were recruited into combat positions to have their criminal record wiped clean. Levy-Abecassis explained that when these soldiers complete their military service and go into the workforce, they encounter difficulties in terms of finding jobs. Their past ""stain,"" she said, prevents them from working as security personnel or in any other position that would require carrying a gun, jobs that many combat soldiers seek after the army. The chairwoman said the proposed law will ""end the paradox and injustice toward people who served as fighters and carried weapons and who after their service cannot work with one, even though they are called up for reserve duty and use arms at that same time."" The idea for the draft law came after Levy-Abecassis received an appeal from a combat soldier and former at risk teenager who had been denied a permit to carry a civilian weapon due to his criminal record."

"South African President Jacob Zuma has signed into law the Protection of Personal Information Bill, which protects citizens' right to privacy. The law is heavily influenced by the EU draft DP Regulation and European DP tradition. ""The Act will give effect to the right to privacy, by introducing measures to ensure that the personal information of an individual is safeguarded when it is processed by responsible parties,"" said presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj."" The Act also seeks to balance the right to privacy against other rights, particularly the right of access to information, and to generally protect important interests, including the free flow of information within and across the borders of the republic. Containing eight principles responsible parties need to comply with, the Bill gives expression to the right to privacy provided for in the Constitution. The right to privacy includes the right to protection against unlawful collection, retention, dissemination and use of anyone's personal information. The Bill also establishes the Office of the Information Regulator as an independent, statutory body, accountable to the National Assembly. The Information Regulator, amongst other duties and functions, will take over from the Human Rights Commission powers and functions relating to the Promotion of Access to Information Act. This Bill will bring South Africa in line with international data protection laws."

"In the case, Austin v Honeywell Ltd, the Federal Circuit Court determined that the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) is not a ""workplace law"" for the purpose of protecting a person against adverse action under section 340 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (Act). However, the judge conceded that a provision within an Act or regulation could regulate the relationship between employers and employees even though the Act or the regulations as a whole did not do so. In any case, the Judge found that the employer had discharged the onus of proving that it had terminated her employment because of her attitude to her manager and not because she had commenced an adverse action claim. Not all statutory rights amount to workplace rights granting protection against adverse action. Whether a workplace right exists depends on whether the provision or Act is aimed at regulating the relationship between employers and employees. The Privacy Act was held not to be a workplace law, therefore it did not give rise to a workplace right."