Regulations Changes for Verification Programs Administered by the Employment Insurance (EI) Program

HRinfodesk---Canadian Payroll and Employment Law, January 2005

With the implementation of federal and provincial privacy legislation such as the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), regulatory clarification is required to ensure the ongoing functions of two verification programs administered by the Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) within the Employment Insurance (EI) program: the Automated Earnings Reporting System (AERS) and the Report on Hirings (ROH) Program. These voluntary programs involve the comparison of EI claim files with current employee information provided to HRSDC by employers. HRSDC's lawful authority to obtain this information needs to be made explicit as a result of the implementation of PIPEDA and other provincial privacy legislation. The AERS and ROH programs are currently under suspension (since January 1, 2004) and will be reinstated once the Regulations come into effect.

Under PIPEDA, federally regulated employers may not disclose personal information about an employee to HRSDC without the employee's consent unless HRSDC can demonstrate that it has the lawful authority to obtain this information. In addition, Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta have enacted privacy protection legislation requiring HRSDC to have lawful authority before it can obtain employee information from private sector employers in those provinces without employee consent. Similar legislation is being developed in other provinces.

To support the continuation of these voluntary verification programs, section 55.1 of the Employment Insurance Regulations is added to make explicit that HRSDC has the lawful authority to obtain employee information on a continuing basis. The information to be collected will include information in respect of the date of commencement of employment, duration of employment, amounts earned and reasons for separation from employment. It will apply to employers who (a) hired or recalled ten or more employees in a twelve-month period or expect to do so in the upcoming twelve months or (b) were required to issue ten or more records of employment in a twelve-month period or expect to do so in the upcoming twelve months.

Published in the Canada Gazette, Vol. 138, No. 26 - December 29, 2004

Registration
SOR/2004-312 14 December, 2004

By Yosie Saint-Cyr, Editor at HRinfodesk

Published on HRinfodesk---Canadian Payroll and Employment Law

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