What happened
Two Ontario public-school teachers kept a shared, password-protected online log about workplace concerns. A principal encountered it on a board-issued laptop, read and photographed portions, and the communications were later used for written reprimands.
What the Court decided
In **York Region District School Board v. Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, 2024 SCC 22**, the Supreme Court dismissed the board’s appeal. Ontario public school boards are governmental for Charter purposes, so section 8 protection against unreasonable search and seizure applies in their workplaces. The arbitrator could not resolve the privacy issue only through ordinary arbitral balancing while disregarding the Charter constraint.
The ruling concerns public school boards. It does not make every private employer directly subject to section 8 or create an absolute workplace-privacy right.
Binder HR analysis
Device ownership is not the end of the analysis. Public-sector employers should identify legal authority, purpose, scope, the employee’s reasonable expectation of privacy and less intrusive options before accessing content. Policies matter, but a policy alone cannot make a constitutionally unreasonable search reasonable.
Workplace leaders should separately justify access, copying and later use of information, and preserve a decision trail suitable for arbitral or judicial review.
Source: Supreme Court of Canada, **2024 SCC 22**. General information only.