Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada fails to ensure that the information it used to staff a position was accurate

The complainant alleged that Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) used inaccurate personal information about him when staffing a position. ISED acknowledged that its Human Resources officials mistakenly selected the complainant's profile in the MyGCHR system instead of another individual with the same name, leading to the complainant being 'hired' by ISED and 'terminated' from his position at Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC). This error caused the complainant to miss pay periods. The OPC found that ISED did not take all reasonable steps to ensure the accuracy of the personal information, as officials only used first and last names for the search and did not verify with additional identifiers like a Personal Record Identifier (PRI) or date of birth. The complaint was found to be well-founded, but ISED has since implemented a new policy requiring staff to validate identities using multiple data fields.