Employers who are continuing operations during the current
COVID-19 pandemic are obligated to take reasonable steps to protect
the health and safety of their workers. In order to do this,
employers may need to ask employees some personal questions about
their health status or conduct health assessments. However, privacy
laws continue to apply in spite of the ongoing public health
emergency, and employers should be mindful of how privacy laws may
limit what can be asked of employees.
This bulletin is intended to provide general information about
various privacy law issues that may arise when employers request
personal health information from employees. In all cases, legal
advice that is specific to the privacy legislation that applies to
the employer should be sought. Different privacy legislation will
apply depending on whether the employer is federally or
provincially regulated, public or private sector, union or non
union, where their employees are located, and the
