Reference no: EM133387492
Case Study/Scenario
The transportation company Trucking Ltd.'s human resources professional is on parental leave, and the manager is not familiar with the laws governing privacy in Canada. You are invited to advise the manager regarding their current situation. Your task is to make a memo explaining whether, why, and how the company infringed PIPEDA and provide recommendations on how to amend their current privacy policy to prevent the same issue. There is only one men's washroom in Trucking Ltd's building, and it is used by the employees, their children, visitors, and others. The washroom is regularly cleaned, and the cleaning log is posted on the door. Some ninety-five staff members use the toilet regularly. During one of the company's monthly health and safety meetings ("Meeting"), several employees complained about the state of the men's washroom. Per the health and safety policy at Trucking Ltd., the manager decided to investigate the complaint. However, she chose not to include the complaint or the information regarding the investigation in the Meeting's minutes. She felt the nature of the complaint was sensitive, and since the minutes are prominently posted for all employees to read in the staff room, it was best to omit the information. To assess who was responsible for the mess in the men's washroom, the company started to secretly log who was entering the washroom and what conditions it was left in after they left. The log was only used and seen by the management. The details included the date, time, name of personnel using the facility, name of the person inspecting, and the condition of the facility. There are twenty-three entries in the log. After three days of monitoring, it was determined that the washroom needed attention only after Mr. Taylor Sykes, and the logging stopped. The manager invited the union representative and Mr. Sykes to discuss the complaint and the investigation results. During the meeting, the manager gave Mr. Sykes a disciplinary letter advising him that his behavior had to stop; otherwise, progressive disciplinary actions would be taken. Mr. Sykes was never reprimanded before and was shocked that his actions affected the workplace to such an extent. Mr. Sykes was bewildered why no one had spoken with him before or that no other ways of addressing the issue of cleanliness in the washroom were considered. He stated that he would have changed his behavior sooner if management had posted a poster about washroom cleanliness and expectations or had a staff meeting regarding this issue. Mr. Sykes filed a complaint with the federal privacy commissioner, alleging that management had monitored his washroom visits without his consent and used the collected personal information for disciplinary purposes.
The manager asks if Trucking Ltd. infringed PIPEDA in this situation. The company does not have a privacy policy and would like to start with developing provisions concerning covert surveillance and data collection. Provide five recommendations and five sample clauses to help Trucking Ltd. comply with PIPEDA.
Make a memo explaining whether the employer breached PIPEDA, and provide recommendations for developing a privacy policy.
Structure the memo using the following headings:
Summary
Identify and explain the issue and facts you are addressing.
Start your first sentence as: "The purpose of this memo is to provide an opinion on . . ."
Identify the legal issue
Provide the key facts:
Answer who, when, where, what, why, and how.
The summary identifies and describes the facts tied to the issue.
Analysis
Explain your answer to the issue by identifying and explaining the key legal principles and PIPEDA provisions and applying them to the facts.
Recommendation
Based on your analysis, provide five recommendations for developing a privacy policy that addresses surveillance and employee private information collection.