Co-authored by Andrew Eyer
In the age of technology and data collection, there is, or can
be, a digital footprint and record of virtually all employee
activity.
How will arbitrators balance the right of employers to manage
the workplace using the new tools they have in place, and the
asserted privacy rights of employees? The Zellstoff
trilogy of cases provides a useful "data point". These
cases illustrate the developing battle-line between the use of
management technology and personal privacy.
The cases were decided under B.C. and Alberta law, which is
relevant because both provinces have almost identical private
sector privacy laws that purport to protect "employee personal
information." In the first case, Zelstoff Celgar Ltd. v. Public and Private
Workers of Canada, Local 1 (Negreiff Grievance), the union
grieved the dismissal of an employee for time theft. The employer
had compared the grievor's self-reported hours of work against
the data collected by a
