An area that small business employers, including physicians and dentists, tend to overlook is the protection of personal information. This applies not just to permanent employees, but also temporary workers and job applicants.
In British Columbia, the Personal Information Protection Act mandates that an organization make reasonable security arrangements to prevent unauthorized access, copying, etc.
So payroll files, benefit files and so on should not be accessible to anyone who can open a file (virtual or otherwise). In addition, resumes of employees and also those that you receive from job seekers should be retained for a period of at least a year.
Many employers make their hiring decisions and then shred the resumes of those not selected. Those resumes, by law, should be kept for at least one year so that applicants can access them if they wish. If you make a decision regarding an individual based on personal information that you have (a resume), it must be retained and kept confidential.
Documents containing personal information may be shredded when it is reasonable to do so and they are no longer required for business or legal reasons.
I urge small business employers to make themselves familiar with the requirements of the Personal Protection Act in B.C.
