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ARTICLE · 04 NOVEMBER 2012

Canada’s Highest Court Rules On Employee Privacy Rights Over Work Computer

Dentons Canada LLP
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In a time when employers are increasingly allowing employees to use employer‐issued laptop computers, smart phones, and other digital devices for their own personal use, this decision, offers a number of important lessons.

CanadaEmployment and HR
Andrea Raso-Amer
Andrea Raso-Amer
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Introduction

In R. v. Cole, 2012 SCC 53, the Supreme Court of Canada held that a warrantless search and seizure by police of a teacher's employerissued computer containing sexually explicit images of a female student were in violation of the teacher's rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In a time when employers are increasingly allowing (either explicitly or implicitly) employees to use employerissued laptop computers, smart phones, and other digital devices for their own personal use, this decision, as summarized below, offers a number of important lessons.

Background

The accused, Richard Cole, was a high school computer science teacher in north eastern Ontario who also had "supervisory duties" with regards to the school's computer network. This meant that Mr. Cole had certain domain administrative rights which gave him access to the network server and all of the computers within the school that used the server, including student laptops.

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