Criminal Charges/Convictions
Ontario appeal court: teacher had reasonable expectation of privacy on work computer in face of no clear policy
In R. v Cole, 2011 ONCA 218, a criminal law case, the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that a high school teacher had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the contents of a work laptop computer on which he was entitled to store personal information.
In making this finding, the court pointed in part to the fact that the employer had no clear privacy policy relating to teachers' work laptops, and no policy statement reserving the right to monitor or search the teachers' laptops.
However, the appeal court further ruled in its March 22, 2011 decision that: read more »
"Accused but Not Yet Convicted: What to do When Your Employee is Accused of a Crime?"
"Accused but Not Yet Convicted: What to do When Your Employee is Accused of a Crime?" (March 29, 2011) is the title of a bulletin written by two lawyers - Anthony Houde and Emilie Paquin-Holmested at the Montreal office of Fasken Martineau.
BC Privacy Commissioner to consider use of PRIME police database for employment-related criminal record checks
BC's Information and Privacy Commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, issued a news release yesterday in which she confirmed that her office:
- has been examining the issue of employment-related criminal records checks for several months; and
- will take the recent concerns voiced by the BC Civil Liberties Association ("BCCLA") about the PRIME police database into consideration.
PRIME stands for "Police Records Information Management Environment".
The Commissioner's release goes on to state: read more »
Best practices guide on ciminal background checks published for US employers
The National Employment Law Project is a US advocacy organization for employment rights of lower-wage workers, It has offices across the United States and a staff of lawyers, policy experts and researchers.
Of note to US employers, the Project recently published a "Criminal Background Checks: A Best Practices Guide" (March 17, 2011), which speaks to best practices in the US context.
BC arbitrator addresses whether existing employees can be required to submit to periodic criminal record checks
In the May 14, 2010 labour arbitration decision in Vancouver (City) v. Vancouver Firefighters' Union, Local 18 (Police Records Checks Grievance), [2010] B.C.C.A.A.A. No. 81, a BC arbitrator addressed whether an employer could introduce a policy that would require unionized employees in certain designated positions to submit to updated criminal record checks every five years.
Jennifer Roper, at Roper Greyell in Vancouver, has written an article about this decision ("Can Employees be Required to Submit to Criminal Record Checks?") for the firm's September 2010 newsletter. read more »
"Background Check Program a Reasonable Exercise of Management Rights"
Hadiya Roderique, a lawyer at Fasken Martineau in Ontario, has written a bulletin entitled "Background Check Program a Reasonable Exercise of Management Rights" (August 4, 2010).
The bulletin provides a case summary of the decision of Arbitrator Watters in Re Diageo Canada Inc. and C.A.W.-Canada, Local 2098 (January 20 2010).
"The Criminalization of Health and Safety Law: Workplace Deaths Leads to Charges"
Ontario lawyer Carl W. Peterson has written a paper on, "The Criminalization of Health and Safety Law: Workplace Deaths Leads to Charges" (June 2010). Mr. Peterson practices at Filion Wakely Thorup Angeletti LLP in Ontario.
The paper addresses Bil C-45 and covers the following topics: read more »
Top 10 Canadian Cases on Workplace Privacy in Unionized Employment
Lancaster House presented an audio-conference last Thursday (May 13, 2010) on the "Top 10 Cases on Workplace Privacy in the Unionized Workplace". The cases covered - there were more than 10 - were: read more »
