BreachOfPrivacy
Decisions/Federal (Canada)/Privacy Act/Investigation into the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat’s implementation of the Direction on Prescribed Presence in the Workplace
Office of the Privacy Commissioner of CanadaPrivacy ActNot well-founded
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Investigation into the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat’s implementation of the Direction on Prescribed Presence in the Workplace

Organization: Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
Decision: Mar 18, 2026Published: Mar 18, 2026

This investigation examined the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat's (TBS) handling of employee personal information related to the administration of the Direction on Prescribed Presence in the Workplace, which mandates minimum on-site workdays. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) found that TBS's practices for both organizational compliance reporting (using aggregated data like turnstile and HR data) and individual compliance monitoring (relying on manager observation and self-reporting) were compliant with the Privacy Act. The OPC concluded that the complaint was not well-founded, noting TBS's effective balance between operational needs and employee privacy.

  • Collection of employee personal information for hybrid work model compliance
  • Retention and disposal of personal information
  • Use and disclosure of personal information
  • Transparency and adequacy of Personal Information Banks (PIBs)

Complaint not well-founded

The OPC found that TBS's collection, retention, use, and disclosure of employee personal information for administering the hybrid work policy complied with the Privacy Act, and that aggregated data used for organizational reporting did not constitute personal information.

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Recommended action / remedy

The OPC encouraged TBS to update its PIB PSU 907 description to explicitly reflect the potential use of access logs in formal investigations.

Statutory provisions cited
  • s. 4 Privacy Act
  • s. 6 Privacy Act
  • s. 7 Privacy Act
  • s. 8 Privacy Act
  • s. 10 Privacy Act
  • s. 11 Privacy Act
  • s. 7 Financial Administration Act
  • s. 11 Financial Administration Act

This is a summary of a decision and is not legal advice.