Federal government launches tracking system to monitor office attendance

The federal government launched a new system to monitor whether IRCC employees are meeting in-person work mandates. CTV’s Natalie van Rooy reports.

A new tracking system will keep an eye on federal public servants to monitor whether they’re meeting the three-day in-office mandate.

On-site attendance monitoring started On Oct. 1 at Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada. The system works using IP information, meaning every time that an employee logs on at the office, it’s tracked and counted as a day working on-site but the new program is already facing pushback.

“It is absolutely shocking that the department feels the need to implement this type of surveillance,” said Rubina Boucher, national president of the Canadian Employment and Immigration Union.

“Our understanding right now, is it’s being monitored by using IP address information from onsite sign-ins to identify the employees that had the low site attendance.”

The pilot project will run until November with official monitoring beginning in January. In April, managers will be told the names of employees who are not meeting on-site attendance requirements and disciplinary action could follow.

Howard Levitt of Levitt LLP Toronto Employment Lawyers says the tracking system is legal.

“Nothing illegal and not a violation of privacy rights,” said Levitt.

“You don’t have the privacy right to not be at work.”

A memo sent to employees from IRCC stated that workers won’t be flagged for having low on-site attendance during vacation or sick leave, but if a worker is not meeting the office mandate requirements, they will be expected to explain why.

“The pilot aims to ensure transparency and consistency in how on-site attendance is tracked. It will provide managers with data to help address cases of chronic non-compliance and support a fair work environment,” IRCC said in a statement.

“Our members are deeply concerned with this type of intrusive monitoring,” said Boucher. “They feel that trust has really been broken.”

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