Part I The Fair Employment Commission, the Fair Employment Tribunal and the functions of the Commission and the Tribunal
Confidentiality of information
19 Confidentiality of information.
F21
No information in the Commission’s possession which discloses, or from which there can be deduced, the religious belief of any identifiable individual shall, without that individual’s written consent, be disclosed by a member, officer or servant of the Commission to a person who is not associated with the Commission, except so far as such disclosure—
a
is necessary or expedient for the proper discharge of the functions of the Commission or is necessary to comply with any obligation imposed by or under an enactment (including this Act); or
b
is made for the purpose of, or in connection with—
i
any actual or prospective proceedings before the Tribunal or an F3employment tribunal; or
ii
any actual or prospective civil or criminal proceedings before a court.
1A
For the purposes of subsection (1) above a person is associated with the Commission if—
a
he is a member of, or in the employment of, the Commission; or
b
his services have been made available to the Commission for the purpose of the exercise of any of its functions.
2
Subsection (3) below applies to any information supplied to the Commission—
a
in the course of an investigation under section 11 of this Act or section 38 (review of exception of schoolteachers) of the M1Fair Employment (Northern Ireland) Act 1976, or
b
in pursuance of a requirement under section 45 of this Act.
3
No information to which this subsection applies shall be disclosed by a member, officer or servant of the Commission to a person who is not a member of, or in the employment of, the Commission, except so far as such disclosure—
a
is relevant for the purposes of section 2(1) (educational functions) or section 38(3) (report on review of exception of schoolteachers) of, or paragraph 14 (annual report) of Schedule 1 to, the Fair Employment (Northern Ireland) Act 1976 and is not prohibited by subsection (1) above,
b
is F4made as mentioned in subsection (1)(b) above, or
c
is permitted by subsection (4) below or required by subsection (5) below.
4
F5. . . Where it is necessary or expedient to do so for the proper discharge of the functions of the Commission, a member, officer or servant of the Commission may—
a
disclose to an employer any information in the Commission’s possession which relates to his employees or to other persons who have applied for employment by him,
b
disclose to a principal (within the meaning of section 18 of the M2Fair Employment (Northern Ireland) Act 1976) any information in the Commission’s possession which relates to contract workers whose services are or have been available to him,
c
disclose to any person who is empowered by virtue of an enactment to select or nominate another person for employment by a third person any information in the Commission’s possession which relates to a person who has applied for the employment in question,
d
disclose to an employment agency any information in the Commission’s possession which relates to a person who has applied for or obtained the services of the agency,
e
disclose to a vocational organisation any information in the Commission’s possession which relates to members of that organisation or other persons who have applied for membership,
f
disclose to a person who provides services in connection with the training of persons for employment in any capacity, or for a particular employment or occupation, any information in the Commission’s possession which relates to a person who has sought, or on whose behalf it has been sought, to obtain those services, or who has obtained those services, or
g
disclose to a person who has power to confer a qualification such as is mentioned in section 23 of the Fair Employment (Northern Ireland) Act 1976 any information in the Commission’s possession which relates to a person who has applied to have, or has had, that qualification conferred on him.
5
F5. . . The Commission shall supply to the Department any information in the Commission’s possession which the Department requests.
6
Any person who discloses any information in contravention of any provision of this section is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.
F67
It is a defence for a person charged with contravening subsection (1) or (3) above to show that before the disclosure in question was made he had also obtained the information otherwise than in his capacity as a member, officer or servant of the Commission.
8
In subsections (1), (3), (4) and (7) above “a member, officer or servant of the Commission” includes a former member, officer or servant of the Commission.