Imagine turning up to work every day without knowing whether your employer is tracking your movements, timing your bathroom breaks, analysing your emotions or allowing artificial intelligence (AI) to make decisions about your job. VTHC’s Luke Hilakari says, "This isn’t science fiction or an episode of Black Mirror. In some workplaces, it’s already happening."
After a strong campaigning by unions, the Victorian Government this week announced plans to introduce Australia’s strongest workplace surveillance laws aimed at protecting the right to privacy for workers by curbing excessive surveillance and bringing fairness to workplaces increasingly influenced by AI.
Intrusive workplace surveillance is a growing workplace issue. Whilst the definition of psychosocial hazards incorporates anything that creates a risk to psychological health, surveillance was not recognised on Victoria’s list of example psychosocial hazards. Other jurisdictions, such as the Commonwealth were more proactive in recognising this as an emerging issue. Unions and researchers argue that it poses a significant risk to workers’ psychological and physical health and safety. If left unchecked, intrusive workplace surveillance has the potential to lead to widespread discrimination, work intensification, unfair treatment and the resulting stress.
Intrusive workplace surveillance also exacerbates other hazards such as poor workplace relationships and low job control, and creates a culture where employees feel undervalued, over-policed and lacking in autonomy.
The proposed reforms announced by the Victorian Government promise greater transparency and stronger protections for workers. They will ensure workers have the right to know when they are being monitored and ensure that employers consult with employees before introducing any surveillance or AI management tools. Other proposed improvements include preventing the use of AI to track things like bathroom breaks and preventing covert surveillance except where unlawful activity is suspected.
The reforms also take aim at the growing use of AI in workplace decision-making. AI systems are increasingly used to screen job applicants, assess performance, manage rosters and monitor productivity. While employers claim these technologies can improve efficiency, they also carry the risk of hidden bias and unfair outcomes.
To address these concerns, the Victorian Government proposes stronger protections against AI-driven discrimination. Employers would be prohibited from using AI or surveillance technologies in ways that discriminate on the basis of race, gender, religion, sexuality or other protected characteristics. AI systems used in recruitment, promotion or pay decisions would need to be free from discriminatory bias.
The plan commits to algorithms never being allowed to make the final decision on matters affecting a worker's rights. Any significant automated decision based on surveillance data would require review by a human decision-maker. Workers would also have the right to access surveillance information that has been used to make decisions about their employment.
Strict limits are proposed for biometric technologies, with biometric data such as facial recognition or fingerprint information only being permitted to be collected where there is no less intrusive alternative. Using biometric systems to analyse workers' emotions would generally be prohibited unless there is a genuine safety reason, such as fatigue monitoring for commercial drivers.
The announcement follows growing concern about the impact of excessive workplace surveillance on employee wellbeing. As reported previously by SafetyNet, the Victorian Government Inquiry into Workplace Surveillance revealed significant gaps in privacy protections and the need for updated regulations to address modern surveillance practices, as well as finding that intrusive monitoring can undermine trust, damage perceptions of fairness and contribute to psychosocial hazards in the workplace. The inquiry recommended that employers be required to demonstrate that any surveillance is reasonable, necessary and proportionate.
The Victorian reforms align with broader national efforts to establish safeguards around AI. The Federal Government has announced a national AI plan, featuring a series of safety priorities. These include legislating a digital duty of care that puts the onus on AI companies to build in safety by design and proactively address potential harms posed by their technologies. The Federal Government reform will also drive the development and implementation of Australian Standards for AI usage. The Standards will deliver a simple, consistent regulatory framework for large data centres and AI training and will be the first system of its kind in the world to be legislated by a government. You can read more about the National AI plan here - AI in Australia's interests | Prime Minister of Australia.
While both the Federal and Victorian proposals still need to become law, they represent a significant shift in how workplace technology is regulated. As AI becomes more deeply embedded in working life, the message is clear: innovation should make work safer and fairer and should not come at the expense of workers' privacy, dignity and fundamental rights.
Across the country, NSW is the only other state or territory that has enacted such protections for workers from harms caused by excessive workplace surveillance. Earlier this year the NSW government passed the Work Health and Safety Amendment (Digital Work Systems) Bill 2025, requiring employers to “ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the health and safety of a worker is not put at risk from the allocation of work by a digital work system", defined as "an algorithm, artificial intelligence, automation or online platform". The new law requires employers to consider whether their digital systems create or cause the risk of "excessive or unreasonable workloads", the "use of excessive or unreasonable metrics to assess and track the performance of workers", "excessive or unreasonable monitoring or surveillance of workers", or "unlawful discriminatory practices or decision-making in the conduct of the business or undertaking".
You can hear more about workplace surveillance and AI at our Intrusive Workplace Surveillance and Algorithmic Management - OHS Reps live show featuring Matt Scherer from the Centre for Democracy and Technology, and by viewing our 2025 VTHC HSR Conference: Reps Against the Machine, in which we focused on intrusive surveillance and algorithmic management.
HSRs can access our OHS Reps tools to help them work with their DWG members to address hazards introduced by digital work systems, surveillance and algorithmic management, and manage the psychosocial hazards introduced by such systems:
As always, if AI, surveillance changes, or new KPIs are being introduced in your workplace, talk to your HSR and your union organiser.
Read more: Financial Times - Allan Government pledges new laws to restrict workplace surveillance