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Australia: why confirm a former employee's job?

Every Australian employer must already keep a record for each employee for 7 years, including the date the employment began. Confirming facts from your records takes a minute and helps the person into their next job. certo asks on their behalf, with their explicit consent.

Law as of 26 October 2026 · Privacy Act 1988, compilation No. 104 (4 June 2026), and Fair Work Act 2009, compilation No. 73 (7 July 2026)

In short

  • The facts are already in your records. Every employer must make and keep, for 7 years, employee records that include the day each employee's employment began (Fair Work Act 2009, s 535; Fair Work Regulations 2009, reg 3.32). The end date and the job title are in your personnel records too. Australian law does not require a reference or a certificate of service, but those records hold what we ask about.
  • It helps the person who worked for you. A record confirmed by a former employer is what the next employer trusts. Answering takes about a minute and needs no account.
  • certo asks on their behalf, with their explicit consent. The Australian Privacy Principles let an organisation disclose personal information for another purpose with the individual's consent (APP 6.1(a)), and a private-sector employer's acts directly related to an employee record may be exempt from them (s 7B(3)). The person started this check themselves, for these facts and no others.
  • You do not have to answer. No Australian law we found obliges an employer to answer certo. Declining is fine.

The Fair Work Act

Fair Work Act 2009 and Fair Work Regulations 2009, quoted from the compilations on the Federal Register of Legislation.

Section 535(1): employee records

An employer must make, and keep for 7 years, employee records of the kind prescribed by the regulations in relation to each of its employees.

Regulation 3.32: what the record shows

For subsection 535(1) of the Act, a kind of employee record that an employer must make and keep is a record that specifies: … the date on which the employee’s employment began

The start date is in the record you must keep; the end date and the job title are in your personnel records. We found no provision of the Fair Work Act 2009 that obliges an employer to give a reference or a certificate of service, and none that obliges you to answer a request like this one.

Personal data

Privacy Act 1988, quoted from compilation No. 104. Small businesses (annual turnover of $3,000,000 or less) are, with exceptions, outside the Act (ss 6C and 6D).

Section 7B(3): the employee records exemption

An act done, or practice engaged in, by an organisation that is or was an employer of an individual, is exempt for the purposes of paragraph 7(1)(ee) if the act or practice is directly related to: (a) a current or former employment relationship between the employer and the individual; and (b) an employee record held by the organisation and relating to the individual.

Section 6(1) defines an employee record as

a record of personal information relating to the employment of the employee.

A private-sector employer confirming facts from a former employee's record may fall within this exemption. Whether it does depends on the facts, and the exemption does not cover government agencies. Where the Australian Privacy Principles do apply, APP 6 permits the disclosure with consent:

APP 6.1(a): disclosure with consent

If an APP entity holds personal information about an individual that was collected for a particular purpose … the entity must not use or disclose the information for another purpose … unless: (a) the individual has consented to the use or disclosure of the information;

  • Proof of consent. certo records which account asked, when, and for which facts. Write to support@certo.bio and we send you the record for your request.
  • Only what is needed. You confirm or leave unticked only the facts listed. Add nothing else: anything beyond them is not covered by the person's consent.
  • Overseas recipient. certo is run from Estonia, in the EU. Where the Principles apply, APP 8 also governs a disclosure overseas; APP 8.2(a) lets you rely on a reasonable belief that the recipient is subject to a law that protects the information in a substantially similar way, with mechanisms the individual can use to enforce it. certo is subject to the EU's General Data Protection Regulation.

What this means for your answer

  • Tick only what your HR, payroll or personnel records show.
  • Not sure it is the same person? Press "We can't find a matching record". Never confirm a record you are not sure is theirs.
  • Your policy is not to answer? Press "We do not answer these requests". The record shows your organisation declined, and nobody else there is asked.

Sources

This page is not legal advice. It reflects the law as it stood on 26 October 2026.