Subway employee ‘harassed’ customer after using her coronavirus contact tracing details to contact her in New Zealand
- ‘Jess’ said the employee at an Auckland Subway contacted her after her visit
- She was asked to give her personal information as part of a contact-tracing drive
- The woman, who wanted to remain anonymous, said the incident made her feel ‘gross’ and ‘uncomfortable’
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
By Ryan Fahey For Mailonline
Published: 15:59 BST, 14 May 2020 | Updated: 16:26 BST, 14 May 2020
A Subway employee allegedly harassed a customer by using her coronavirus contact tracing details to message her in New Zealand.
An Auckland woman, who has been identified only as ‘Jess’, felt ‘gross’ and ‘uncomfortable’ after a male Subway employee used her contact tracing details to message her after filling in a form at a restaurant in North Shores.
Subway confirmed that the employee has been suspended pending an investigation.
Jess told Newshub that she was asked to fill her name, home address, email address and phone number on to a form provided by the restaurant.
An Auckland woman, who only wanted to be identified as ‘Jess’, can be seen during an interview about being contacted by a Subway employee after sharing her details for contact tracing
Pictured: A file photo of a Subway sandwich restaurant shop in the US. An Auckland woman, who has been identified as Jess, was made to feel ‘gross’ and ‘uncomfortable’ after a male Subway employee used her contact-tracing details to message her after filling in a form at a restaurant in North Shores
Shortly after her visit, Jess said she received an email, a text and requests on Facebook and Instagram from the man who’d served her.
‘I felt pretty gross, he made me feel really uncomfortable,’ she said. ‘He’s contacting me, I didn’t ask him to do that, I don’t want that.’
Jess added that she felt ‘lucky’ to have other people at home because the employee now knows her address.
‘I’d feel really, really scared [if I lived alone],’ she said. ‘Even now I feel a bit creeped out and vulnerable.’
Subway said the employee will be suspended pending an investigation.
They added that they will be implementing a digitised contact-tracing system, which will only be accessible should the government make a request to trace someone.
In a statement to Newsweek a spokesperson said: ‘All Subway franchisees have received refresher training about their responsibility for management of personal information, following this complaint.’
‘As part of Subway’s ongoing response to COVID-19, from Wednesday, a new digital contact tracing system was introduced at all restaurants … information will be held securely for the purposes of contact tracing, only accessed in response to government contact tracing requests.’
New Zealand has only confirmed 1,147 cases of the coronavirus, most of which came from abroad, according to the country’s ministry of health.
The ministry has issued a nationwide contact-tracing drive to warn people who come into contact with someone who may have contracted the illness.
There have been just 21 deaths from the virus in New Zealand.