November

The federal government in Canada has proposed fines for those Canadian companies that try to hide data breaches.

Under new regulations, it would be mandatory for companies to report to authorities and notify their individuals if their data has been breached. The mandatory reporting will help provide protection against further companies that could lead to fraud, identity theft, humiliation, loss of employment or other forms of harm. Risk Based Security Inc. revealed that Canada had the third-largest number of data breaches in the first six months of the year.

Alberta currently is the only province required by law to report data breaches.

Energy giant Suncor Energy has won another victory in a years-long legal battle over random drug and alcohol testing at its northeastern Alberta oil sites.
 
Suncor began randomly testing staff in safety-sensitive jobs in 2012, but Unifor, the union representing many of those workers, called it an infringement of privacy.
 
The majority of an arbitration tribunal ruled in favor of Unifor in 2014, but last year Alberta Court of Queen's Bench Justice Blair Nixon defeated that decision. Unifor appealed Nixon's ruling, but three judges with the Alberta Court of Appeal have unanimously dismissed the union's challenge.
 
The judges highlighted why safety is such a concern, as Suncor's facilities operate 24|7|365, and its employees work 12-hour shifts operating some of the biggest and most complicated industrial equipment in the world, thus requiring the need for drug testing to reduce accidents and improve safety.

Coles Group Supply Chain Pty Ltd. recently dismissed an employee who tested positive to cannabis, breaching the Fair Work Commission's zero tolerance policy on illicit drugs.

It is recommended that employers consider a zero tolerance policy that is framed in the language of test results, rather than impairment, make no references to windows of detection, make the compliance to drug and alcohol policies clear to all employees, consistently enforce the policy, and consider the employee's personal circumstances.