Saskatoon library ignored lifting of COVID restrictions, privacy commissioner says
Global News
Management told employees on March 11, 2022, that they must submit either proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test, even though the provincial mandate was lifted Feb. 14.
An investigation by the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner has found that Saskatoon Public Library breached an employee’s privacy when it asked for proof of COVID-19 vaccination or test results, even though a provincial mandate had been lifted.
Library management told employees on March 11, 2022, that they must continue to submit proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test, even though the Saskatchewan cabinet lifted the Employers’ COVID-19 Emergency Regulations on Feb. 14.
“They needed to have authority to do it,” said Ronald Kruzeniski, Saskatchewan’s Information and Privacy Commissioner in a report dated Jan. 16. “At one point, the province introduced a regulation that gave them that authority, but on Feb. 14, that authority was rescinded.”
The report stated that “without the Employers’ COVID-19 Emergency Regulations, an employer can no longer demand vaccination/test and an employee is no longer required to comply with a vaccination/test demand made by an employer.”
Saskatoon library took it upon itself to enforce its own mandate until May 31.
A library employee confronted management and said that the request was “in violation of the Saskatchewan Employment Act and HIPA.”
Saskatoon library (SPL) responded to the employee the same day. “SPL has a policy that requires employees to submit COVID test certificates with negative results if they have not submitted proof of vaccination. SPL is no longer asking employees to submit proof, but if they have not yet done so, then they submit test results. The policy is within our legal rights.”
In a statement to Global News, the library claimed it was operating under its personal COVID-19 Exposure Control Plan, which “in addition to many activities designed to provide a safe working environment, required mandatory employee masking, testing and proof of vaccination.
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