The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario ('IPC') submitted, on 14 March 2022, comments to the Chair of the Standing Committee on Social Policy regarding the Ontario Legislature Bill 88, An Act to enact the Digital Platform Workers' Rights Act, 2022 and to amend various Acts ('Bill 88'). In particular, the Commissioner highlighted that if passed, Bill 88 would, among others:

• require that employers with 25 or more employees have a written policy on whether and how they monitor workers electronically;
• require that the policy explain the purposes for which an employer may use information that it collects through electronic monitoring; and
• give employees a right to be provided with a copy of the policy, and the right to complain to the Minister of Labour, Training, and Skills Development if their employer failed to provide it to them.

Additionally, the Commissioner acknowledged that Bill 88 was a good first step to help Ontarians better understand their employers' monitoring practices but stated that Bill 88 in its present form has limitations such as:

• employees cannot file a complaint about the contents of the policy or their employer's noncompliance with the policy;
• nothing in the bill would restrict an employer's ability to use, for any purpose whatsoever, the information collected through the monitoring; and
• it does not provide workers with any protections from overly-invasive or unreasonable electronic surveillance by their employers.

As such, the Commissioner recommended that Bill 88 should be amended to, among others:

• require provincially-regulated employers with 25 or more employees to submit a copy of their electronic monitoring policy to the IPC;
• make it clear that no other provision of law, contract, or condition of employment may prevent employers and employees covered by the law from sharing, discussing, or consulting on the contents of electronic monitoring policies with the IPC; and
• provide that the IPC may use any general information it receives about electronic monitoring policies for the purpose of reporting to the legislature from time to time.

You can read the letter here, Bill 88 here, and track its progress here.