Conducting Reference Checks Without Violating Privacy Laws

Reference and background checks are a good way to ensure you have the right person for the job, but they are not always straightforward. Conducting simple reference checks on prospective employees has become complicated by privacy legislation.

Private sector employers in British Columbia, Alberta and Québec and federally regulated employers are subject to personal information protection legislation. This legislation imposes obligations on employers regarding the collection, use, disclosure and retention of personal information.

Even if an organization is not subject to such legislation, Canada has a growing privacy culture and many employment candidates will expect employers to take special care with their personal information. For that reason, all employers are well-advised to take the developing privacy laws into account in all their employment practices, including reference checking.