At SpringLaw, we are interested in privacy, technology and how they intersect in the workplace. A recent arbitration decision brought all three together and gives us some insight into how decision makers might treat evidence collected via surreptitious surveillance. In Vernon Professional Firefighter’s Association, IAFF, Local 1517 and The Corporation of the City of Vernon … Continue Reading
Pre-employment police record checks have become common in our information-obsessed society. This is where the employer requires a job candidate to pass a police record check as a condition of being hired. The Police Record Checks Reform Act (the “Act”) was designed to standardize why and when these record checks can be obtained, as opposed … Continue Reading
In the information age it’s usually relatively easy to find out all about someone by doing a simple Google search. The burning question of online daters, “do I google my date before the date?” applies equally to employers. Can, and should, an employer background check a candidate? If so when? And how deep can and … Continue Reading
Technology has impacted our privacy in a myriad of ways. One crafty use of technology that we see more and more in workplace disputes, is employee made audio recordings. Employees are turning on their voice memo apps before they go into important meetings and covertly recording their conversations. While undeniably an audio recording is great … Continue Reading
High turnover is a growing issue for companies. As I’ve written in the past, the Millennial generation are quick to jump ship for a better opportunity or when they feel the values of the company no longer match their own. Employers need to prepare themselves for the inevitable departures of key employees. Considerations When a … Continue Reading
Solicitor-client privilege is an important legal concept that allows clients to trust their lawyers with private information. The Supreme Court of Canada has called it, “a principal of fundamental justice and civil right of supreme importance in Canadian law.” Given its importance to the relationship, we think it is important for individuals to understand what … Continue Reading
Gone are the days of posting job ads in the newspaper. Like most things these days job recruitment takes place primarily online. It is important for employers to know how to comply with the law in the online environment – human rights, accessibility and in some cases privacy laws will apply. In general, the laws … Continue Reading
This spring the largest penalty to date was issued under Ontario’s Personal Health Information Protection Act (“PHIPA”). A social work student was convicted of accessing personal health information without authorization, and ordered pay a $20,000 fine and a $5,000 victim fine surcharge after pleading guilty to “willfully accessing the personal health information of five individuals.” … Continue Reading
We all know that social media, electronic communications and the online world has changed how we interact socially. Who has the patience to leave a voice message for a friend about a restaurant meeting place, let alone listen to one? That’s what instant messaging (IM) is for. Short, efficient and no small talk. Enterprise IM … Continue Reading
Toronto is a great place to be a tech employer. It’s a cool city with exciting innovation and talent. If you’re a US company considering getting in on the action in Toronto, there are few things you should know about the True North. Canada strives to have workplaces that are tolerant and inclusive and employees … Continue Reading
Privacy law in Canada continues to grapple with that delicate balance between individual privacy and freedom of expression. The recent case Chandra v. CBC provides an interesting commentary on the quickly changing world of privacy law. In 2012 the Ontario Court of Appeal recognized the independent privacy tort of “intrusion upon seclusion”. Prior to this … Continue Reading
Can an employer monitor (i.e. spy on) their employees’ online productivity (i.e. slacker, time-wasting cyberloafing)? Today I participated in a Lancaster House session on “Cyberloafing, Cyberspying” – two sides of the same labour relations coin, but full of divergent expectations and perspectives. I learned a ton from my fellow panelists, Dan Scott and Susan Munn, … Continue Reading
In my last blog post, I discussed the emerging importance of coworking spaces in the post-industrial workforce. In this part two of the series, at the risk of bursting this utopian post-industrial bubble, I set out some of the more pressing employment law issues with coworking spaces: confidential information, data security, privacy and ownership of … Continue Reading
There is no doubt that we are in the midst of a massive shift in how we consume information and how we communicate with each other. And there is also no doubt that those under 20 who grew up not knowing any different will have a very different kind of comfort around the online universe. … Continue Reading
When addressing the dispute at a union’s picketline, which interest trumps: your individual right to privacy or a union’s right to freedom of expression? This morning, the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) released a seminal case that aggressively concludes that the union’s constitutional right will prevail over an individual’s privacy rights arising out of the … Continue Reading
Last week, I conducted a workshop on implementing a successful “Bring Your Own Device” (BYOD) program at the Canadian Institute’s Privacy Law & Compliance Conference. I met a wonderful group of privacy experts who had plenty to contribute to the discussion. We talked about the benefits, risks and costs of permitting employees to use their … Continue Reading
A couple of readers have asked to what extent US based social media cases will apply in Canada. We don’t yet have a large body of social media cases in Canada (other than run of the mill termination cases involving social media), so there tends to be a lot of discussion up here about US … Continue Reading
Who owns your LinkedIn content? As described in my last blog post, the battle over who owns social media content, and particularly LinkedIn connections and any other social media “customer” list, has yet to come. LinkedIn content will likely be where employers and companies may have a financial motivation to fight for the content, depending … Continue Reading
Last week, a friend sent me a link to the Toronto Star article, “Bay Street law firm uses fingerprint technology to monitor employees’ comings and going”. The subtitle is, “The days of sneaking out of the office for three-hour lunch breaks will soon be over at one Bay Street law firm.” According to the article, … Continue Reading
Employees often take work-related data with them when they resign or are terminated from employment. In many cases, it is an inadvertent act that has happened over time by using their own device or email account to work after hours. Emily Chung, technology writer from CBC News interviewed me and wrote the following piece, exploring the issue: … Continue Reading
Employees have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the personal information on their workplace computers, even if that expectation can be significantly diminished with effective workplace policies and practices. However, whether such reasonable expectations extend to workplace computer evidence admitted in a criminal proceeding was addressed in last Friday’s highly anticipated Supreme Court of Canada … Continue Reading
Over the last couple of months, there has been an interesting debate in Canada and the US about whether an employer can ask for a social media password. For some of the highlights of the conversation in Ontario, see: Toronto Star article on March 20, 2012; Dan Michaluk at All About Information; Andrew Langille’s blog Youth and Work; and David … Continue Reading
Last Thursday, the Ontario Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner released its new guide for online reference checks. In the face of the recent debates about whether an employer can request personal social media passwords during job interviews, the release of this document is quite timely. The guideline is entitled, Reference Check: Is Your Boss Watching? … Continue Reading
As of today, individuals can now sue for the tort of privacy in Ontario. (Thanks to Professor Doorey for the heads up in a tweet and blog post this afternoon). The new tort is based on the following statement: One who intentionally intrudes, physically or otherwise, upon the seclusion of another or his or her private affairs … Continue Reading
