[AU] Employer monitoring teams chat conversations of employees, is there any regulations or legislation for this in the state of Tasmania in Australia?
I recently got a new boss at work and i am almost certain that they are monitoring conversations of employees on teams but i am not what my privacy rights as an employee are in this situation.
some relevant details are, these are chats that the boss has not had their teams account added to directly, these chats are done using work teams accounts, the conversations are entirely mundane, usually directly in relation to work and most conversations using teams happen during work hours but some do occur outside of it.
because they are chats using teams as a work resource and often using workplace devices, i am not entirely sure whether conversations would classify as "private" or what sort of privacy rights would still be applicable.
for most of us staff this is not something we have experienced before and it is not something that any of us have experienced at this workplace. The monitoring of teams conversations was not a previously set expectation and was never officially stated by our new boss. So as employees there is no clear criteria for what types of conversations, wording or interactions done via teams are unacceptable.
Some of us employees discovered that conversations on teams are likely being monitored after our boss referenced details and matching wording of an employee's injury and conversation surrounding it that was discussed in a teams chat our boss was not a part of.
I am aware of a rumor from this boss's previous workplace where they held the same position. All i know is that they pulled up employees for liking a post shared in a teams chat that they thought could have possibly been referring to them. (eg. post by employee congratulating the part time employees on a job well done but ending with it would be nice it we had more support).
Several other employees are aware of this rumor too, so the fear that our conversations and interactions on teams are being monitored and scrutinised has spread amongst us. its created a tense atmosphere in the workplace with most employees avoiding the use of teams for fear that they may be pulled up by our boss and could risk loosing their jobs.
there's not anything demeaning, derogatory or discriminatory discussed in these chats, but if our boss will pull people up for something like mentioned in the rumor, i don't know how secure any of our jobs are.
Is there any regulations or legislation to refer to for this kind of monitoring in the workplace? in googling some of these questions i found that for Tasmania there doesn't seem to be any relevant legislation for this. it looks like anything outside of recording devices are not covered, but even if its not explicitly covered does that make it legal? I apologise if this post is too vague, i tried to keep detail as minimal as possible because Tasmania is such a small state.