The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta ('OIPC') published, on 19 January 2023, Order P2023-01, in which it ordered corrective measures on Acuren Group Inc. pursuant to Section 24(2)(a) of the Personal Information Protection Act, SA 2003 c P-6.5 ('PIPA'), following a request for inquiry.

Background to the Decision

In particular, the OIPC stated that an applicant, a former employee of Acuren Group, made a request to Acuren Group to access its own personal information under the PIPA. Further to this, the OIPC noted that Acuren Group withheld some of the applicant's personal information under Sections 24(3)(b) and (c) of the PIPA and on the basis of litigation and solicitor-client privilege under Section 24(2)(a) of the PIPA.

Findings of the OIPC

Specifically, the OIPC found that Acuren Group properly withheld information under Section 24(3)(b) and (c) of the PIPA. Moreover, the OIPC found that litigation privilege had ended before the access request was made since the Applicant had earlier executed a general release of liability in favour of Acuren Group.

Furthermore, the OIPC found that one record was not protected by solicitor-client privilege, nor was subject to litigation/work-product privilege, since the record was described as a submission pursuant to Section 24(2)(a) of the PIPA.

Outcomes

Thus, the OIPC ordered Acuren Group to disclose any of the applicant's personal information found in records determined not to be protected by litigation, solicitor-client, or work-product privilege.

You can read the decision here.