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Summary
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This investigation was initiated as a result of a complaint concerning the Ministry of Labour (the Ministry).
The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario received an anonymous complaint, in which the complainant stated that the Ministry had violated the privacy of certain individuals in the manner in which it had conducted a client service survey.
The complainant explained that the Ministry had hired a private company to conduct a telephone survey of individuals "who have had complaints with the Ministry." The complainant said that he/she understood that the Ministry had given the names and telephone numbers of these "complainants," including those who had asked to remain confidential, to the private company. The complainant said that the telephone interviewers were, apparently, only given the complainants' telephone numbers and not their names. The complainant said:
Not only does this not protect individual privacy, since complainants can be identified by their telephone numbers, but by not knowing who to ask for when they make their telephone calls, these surveyers [sic] could inadvertently disclose to an employer that an employee has made a confidential complaint against them, particularly in a small workplace.
The Ministry acknowledged that, to improve its services to the public, it hired a private company to conduct a survey, on its behalf, among "clients" of five of its program areas, specifically, the Ontario Labour Relations Board, the Occupational Health and Safety Program, Labour Management Services, the Employment Standards Program, and the Pay Equity Commission. The Ministry stated that the survey concerned the level of service provided to all clients, including, for example, employers, unions, lawyers and individuals, and added that it was not a survey of individuals who had complained to the Ministry about their employers.
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