A Service Canada employee fired for repeatedly accessing confidential Employment Insurance records has been reinstated after a federal labour board found such snooping was common in the office.The Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board ruled that the firing of the Richmond Hill, Ontario clerk was too harsh, noting she had accessed files 107 times over 16 years — mostly involving family members — without personal financial gain or any losses to the employer. Blacklock's Reporter says the board replaced the dismissal with a 30-day suspension without pay.“She explained that was the office culture,” wrote adjudicator Caroline Engmann. “She and colleagues copied each others’ answers and did not pay close attention to the training material.”.The 39-year employee came under investigation after a colleague reported that she was reviewing EI files without clear work-related reasons. Under Service Canada’s Code of Conduct, employees are prohibited from looking up information that is not necessary for their duties, including checking a family member’s benefits or searching for a friend’s phone number.Engmann noted the woman believed she was being helpful. “In some quirky way, she believed she was being efficient because it only took two to three minutes to check the information,” she wrote. The board concluded that while the clerk gave preferential treatment to relatives, “there was no fraudulent activity” and all the transactions were legitimate.The case is part of a broader trend of federal employees accessing sensitive databases without authorization. .In 2023, the Department of Immigration reprimanded an employee for snooping on someone he was suing. The Canada Revenue Agency has also sanctioned workers for unauthorized browsing of its database, which holds information on 30.9 million tax filers.A 2023 CRA report found many Canadians are uneasy about government plans to centralize payroll and personal data in a new real-time database, expressing concern over privacy risks. The proposed ePayroll system would collect names, addresses, marital status, and other details from 2.5 million businesses.In response to repeated privacy breaches, federal agencies have promised increased training and internal campaigns to emphasize the importance of protecting personal information.
