Do Employees Have Charter Privacy Rights In The Workplace?

A recent decision from the Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC") found that searching an employee's work laptop may be an unreasonable interference with privacy rights under section 8 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms ("Charter").¹

Section 8 of the Charter protects against unreasonable search and seizure. While "search and seizure" is a concept typically considered in the criminal context, this case confirms that the Charter and section 8 may also apply in civil proceedings, including those involving the workplace.

The case involved two teachers' privacy rights in a document created on one of their personal Gmail accounts, but accessed on employer-owned computers. The school principal searched the computers after complaints the teachers were keeping a "log" about other employees.