Tag archives: Privacy

Bring-Your-Own-Device Programs: A Balance Between Privacy and Cybersecurity

By Liana Giorgio, Marisa Kwan, Joseph Cohen-Lyons and Curtis Armstrong on February 28, 2023 Posted in Canada

A ”bring your own device” (BYOD) program is a popular arrangement used by employers, whereby employees use their personal devices (e.g., smartphones, laptops, or tablets) for both personal and business purposes. Last year, about two-thirds of Canadian private sector employers had at least one employee using personal devices for business-related activities. [1] While the BYOD approach may … Continue reading

Monitoring and Management Tech is on the NLRB’s Radar

By Kevin MacNeill on November 7, 2022 Posted in United States

On October 31, 2022 the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board released a memo urging the Board to adopt a “new framework” for protecting employees from “intrusive or abusive” forms of electronic monitoring and automated management technologies that interfere with employee rights to self-organize and to engage in collective bargaining under Section 7 … Continue reading

New Requirements for New York Employers Engaged in Electronic Monitoring to Come Into Effect May 7, 2022

By Nandini Rao (US) and Kevin MacNeill on April 27, 2022 Posted in United States

A new law, which amends the New York Civil Rights Law, will require New York employers to provide notice before monitoring employee electronic communications. The amendment takes effect on May 7, 2022. What does the new law require for employers? The new law requires that New York employers fulfill three requirements before electronically monitoring their … Continue reading

France: Provocative acts do not necessarily fall within the scope of sexual harassment if the victim’s behaviour is ambiguous

By Elodie Grangier on December 12, 2019 Posted in Contracts, Discrimination and harassment, Europe, France

The French employment Code defines sexual harassment as “repeated sexual comments or conduct that either violate the [employee’s] dignity because of their degrading or humiliating nature or create an intimidating, hostile or offensive situation against the employee“. The French employment Code also assimilates to sexual harassment “any form of serious pressure, even non-repeated, exercised for … Continue reading

Admissibilité en preuve d’une vidéo de filature : l’article 2858 C.c.Q fait l’objet d’une récente décision de la Cour d’appel

By Marie-Krystel Ouellet on November 21, 2019 Posted in Canada, Québec

Dans une décision majoritaire rendue le 3 octobre 2019[1], la Cour d’appel traite de l’admissibilité en preuve d’une vidéo de filature obtenue en dehors du milieu de travail en vertu de l’article 2858 C.c.Q. La majorité des juges concluent que l’employeur était justifié de procéder à une filature suite aux recommandations de son médecin qui … Continue reading

Keeping your finger(print) on the pulse: Employer’s warned of the risks associated with the collection of biometric data

By Martin Osborne and Matt Wichlinski on June 11, 2019 Posted in Asia Pacific, Australia, General

The everyday use of biometric technology in contemporary society is nothing new. We live in a world where we regularly use fingerprint recognition for home security, facial recognition to open our phones and voice recognition to ask Siri to spice up a party by playing the latest Taylor Swift tune. Despite the significant advancements and … Continue reading

RGPD : nouveau facteur de risque en droit social?

By Laure Joncour on June 14, 2018 Posted in Europe, France

Le règlement général sur la protection des données (« RGPD ») est entré en vigueur le 25 mai 2018. Il modifie la législation antérieure sur le traitement des données personnelles en supprimant notamment le principe de déclaration préalable à la CNIL. Cette déclaration est remplacée par une obligation pour l’entreprise de démontrer la conformité de ses systèmes … Continue reading

Information collected via Facebook cannot – always – be used as evidence against an employee

By Elodie Grangier on February 27, 2018 Posted in Europe, France

Technology is ever-changing, and while in the past evidence of an employee’s misconduct was based mainly on “physical” witnesses and observations, employers might now be tempted to use data obtained through social media as evidence against their employees. At the present time the French Supreme Court has not had many occasions to clarify the manner … Continue reading

Refresh your feed: Updated Guidance on Social Media Background Checks

By Ryan Berger on October 31, 2017 Posted in Canada, Discrimination and harassment, North America

Social media is ubiquitous. Over 20 million Canadians have a social medial account. It is a major source of information about our friends and the world around us. It is also an important vehicle for recruiting and background information. Employers will often have good reason to formally check an applicant’s social media profile in the … Continue reading

Use of social media in France: Employee’s rights and obligations

By Elodie Grangier and François Guillon on October 2, 2017 Posted in Contracts, Data privacy and GDPR, Europe, France

The impact of the use of social media in the workplace has regularly given rise to controversies and debates as how this subject is to be handled by a company’s management. The current state of employment law is still not entirely settled in this respect. It is however possible to provide some guidance on the … Continue reading

ICO updates its subject access Code of Practice

By Amanda Sanders (UK) on July 13, 2017 Posted in Data privacy and GDPR, Europe, UK

The Information Commissioner’s Office in the UK (ICO) has updated its Subject Access Code of Practice (the Code) which deals with requests from individuals for personal information. The amendments are mainly to reflect the Court of Appeal’s decisions in the recent cases of Dawson-Damer and others v Taylor Wessing LLP [2017] EWCA Civ 74 and … Continue reading

Update regarding protection against religion-based discrimination in France

By Elodie Grangier on February 16, 2017 Posted in Contracts, Discrimination and harassment, Europe, France

In France, the issue of religious behavior in the workplace is extremely sensitive. The principle under French employment law is that while public sector employers are required to enforce a policy of strict neutrality, in private sector companies, a balance must be maintained between the principle of secularism and the prohibition of discrimination based on … Continue reading

Arbitrator Upholds Termination of Nurse for Patient Privacy Breaches

By John Mastoras on May 2, 2016 Posted in Canada

There is a growing body of arbitral jurisprudence upholding summary dismissal of employees who breached workplace codes of conduct, confidentiality and privacy policies by deliberately snooping into co-worker or client records without any legitimate purpose and for reasons of their own. A number of these cases have concerned privacy breaches by hospital employees. Ontario Nurses’ … Continue reading

Covert Video Surveillance Overturns Wrongful Dismissal Case

By John Mastoras on April 11, 2016 Posted in Canada, Discrimination and harassment

In a preliminary award, an Ontario arbitrator allowed covert video surveillance footage to be used as evidence in a wrongful dismissal grievance. The complainant, Mr. Donnelly, was one of three elementary school custodians dismissed for allegedly smoking marijuana, adjacent to school grounds during working hours. The wrongful dismissal case between Ottawa-Carleton District School Board and … Continue reading

To name or not to name, that is the question…

By Gabriel Granatstein on February 18, 2016 Posted in Canada

Surprisingly, name tag policies have become the subject of recent litigation and labour board decisions on the topic have been hitting the news. However, the resulting litigation still leaves room for debate. In the recent decision of Prairie North Health Region v Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 5111, an arbitration board in Saskatchewan held that the policy … Continue reading

Masking the Issue: Arbitrator strikes down hospital rule that requires Nurses to wear Masks or get the Flu Shot

By Gabriel Granatstein on September 16, 2015 Posted in Canada

Can hospitals implement policies that require nurses to get a flu shot or wear a mask? An Arbitrator in Ontario says no. This has left about 30 Ontario hospitals who implemented such policies unable to enforce them. The test case involved Sault Area Hospital (“SAH”) in Sault Ste. Marie. The hospital introduced a “Vaccinate or … Continue reading

Duty of fairness extends to performance file for Government employee

By Gabriel Granatstein on June 8, 2015 Posted in Canada

A recent decision of the Federal Court has affirmed the importance of a Federal government employee’s right to procedural fairness. The dispute centred around whether an employee, in appealing his annual performance review, was entitled to see documents explaining his appraisal. The employer, a federal agenct, utilized what is often referred to as a “pay-at-risk” performance rating … Continue reading

Employer may access text messages exchanged via a professional mobile telephone

By Judicaël Fouquet on April 20, 2015 Posted in Europe, France

The legal context Issues regarding the ability of an employer to access messages and files exchanged by its employees using employer-supplied messaging networks or, more generally, devices placed at their disposal, occur quite frequently in the workplace and have given rise to a significant amount of case law. In principle, and from a French employment … Continue reading

Religious and other beliefs – what protection from discrimination do employees have in France?

By Elodie Grangier on January 23, 2015 Posted in Contracts, Discrimination and harassment, Europe, France

The place of religion and other beliefs within the workplace is fairly controversial, especially in France where the principle of secularism is deeply entrenched in the society as a whole. In this context, the pivotal issue is to determine the extent to which employees can be part of a professional environment and still live in … Continue reading

Case Brief: On the rights of grievors to claim anonymity

By Michael Torrance on October 28, 2014 Posted in Canada

In October 2013, an arbitrator rejected a union argument that publication of individuals’ names in an arbitral award was possible only with their consent. In Sunrise Poultry Processors Ltd. v. United Food & Commercial Workers, Local 1518, 2013 CanLII 70673, the arbitrator held that disclosure was favoured as a general rule and that no justification … Continue reading