Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

Personal information and medical leaves – careful what you disclose

September 21, 2015 Christina Catenacci Employee Relations, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Privacy and Security

I recently read an interesting case made by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (decision 2014 – 014) stating that under subsection 5(3) of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) that the employer’s purposes for disclosing the employee’s personal information regarding his medical leave were not appropriate in the circumstances and were not necessary for the organization to meet its employee schedule management needs in the context of its work environment.

disclosing the employee’s personal information, disclosure of certain employee personal information, employment law, management needs, medical leave, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, PIPEDA, sensitive information