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Privacy Issues and Corporate Transactions: What You Don't Know Can Hurt You!, CCLA 2006
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Date: January 1 2006 |
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In 2005, the Alberta Privacy Commissioner dealt with the issue of disclosure of personal information in the context of business transactions in a decision involving the law firms of Stikeman Elliott LLP and Shtabsky & Tussman LLP. As part of the due diligence process being undertaken in connection with an acquisition, Shtabsky & Tussman, acting for one of the companies being acquired, submitted detailed employee profiles to the acquiring company. The profiles contained a list of employee names, including each employee’s home address and Social Insurance Number ("SINs"). This information went above and beyond the information that was necessary for the purposes of the acquisition. Stikeman Elliott, acting for the acquiring company, went one step further and posted the information to the Systems for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) as part of its client’s compliance requirement for a planned IPO. At that point, the information became public and employees of the acquired company became aware of this fact and complained to the acquiring company.
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