JP: Linux System Adminstrator, UofT St. George

Thu Apr 6 18:47:26 UTC 2006

On Thursday 06 April 2006 13:34, Scott Elcomb wrote:
> On 4/6/06, billt-lxSQFCZeNF4 at public.gmane.org <billt-lxSQFCZeNF4 at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> > We are talking about a lab that is excempt to many regulations
> > because of National Security.
>
> We could hope so.  Can't confirm this as yet, but I'm looking. 

  Too bad the original poster didn't care to clarify this issue 
regarding his job posting.  It's an interesting topic.  My instinct is 
that asking for a photo with a resume is wrong in Canada.  I've been 
told that in India it is expected that you will submit a photo with 
your resume.  That was in 1998, so things may have changed in the 
interim.  

  So I asked a law student that I know, what the deal is.  Turns out we 
are all correct.  It's wrong to use a photo of the applicant for 
discrimination.  But it's okay to require a photo if it is needed for 
some reason.  See the example below.  

Here is the reply from the law student. If you need a "Real Answer" buy 
one from your own lawyer.  This is not legal advice.  

> I know that employees at Canadian nuclear facilities with the advent 
of the new
> 'war on terror' were required to submit to background checks, along 
with their
> spouses, who had no contact with the plants, and this was held to be
> justifiable; a lot of what feels wrong in law probably isn't.  
> 
> The Charter protects an individual from unreasonable search and 
seizure,
> protection of life, liberty and security of the person, and no 
discrimination
> (along with a bunch of other stuff, of course).  Nothing in the 
Charter really
> seems directly on point to having to submit a photo at the outset, 
unless it's
> for a discriminatory purpose.
> 
> The way the Charter works is that even if something is contrary to the 
Charter,
> there's still a s. 1 analysis in which the violation could be 
considered a
> reasonable limit.  This analysis looks at the objectives of the 
statute, and the
> impairment on the rights of the individual.  Note that the Charter 
only applies
> to federal or provincial acts, since it deals with stuff prescribed by 
law, so
> private acts are not captured by the Charter.
> 
> All that being said, assuming, arguendo, that the lab is governed by 
an enabling
> statute, the purpose of the photo is likely not discriminatory in 
itself, but
> rather for identification purposes given security issues.  Even if it 
were to
> breach the individual's Charter rights, which I don't really see it 
doing, it
> would probably be justifiable as a reasonable limit under s. 1. 
> 
> Where I think that there may be more play is with PIPEDA, which 
applies to
> commercial organizations and federal works and undertakings (e.g. 
banks,
> railways etc.).  PIPEDA requires that the purposes for which 
information
> (including photos) is being sought be communicated when it is 
requested, that
> the individual consent (although consent can be implied), and that 
collection be
> limited to that which is necessary for the purposes.  
> 
> As an example, being asked to provide a photo for a credit card 
application is
> probably unrelated to the purpose of verifying credit or establishing 
identity,
> and would be unreasonable in this instance.  If, however, you had to 
provide a
> photo since it would be put on the front of the credit card as a form 
of visual
> identification, then the request would be reasonable. 
> 
> Regardless, it seems as if there is probably a national security or
> identification argument that is being made to justify the request at 
the outset.
>  I am sure that they've checked the legal requirements, or are being 
forced to
> ask, since this is the kind of thing that pisses people off and makes 
them cause
> trouble, and employers don't like that as a rule.
> 
> Sorry for being so verbose.  Hope that helps.  If you need more info, 
let me
> know more details about the institution and the exact wording on the 
form and I
> can dig a little more for you.
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