Personnel Information Management

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Policy objective

To ensure that the management and administration of human resources is supported with complete, accurate and well managed information.

Policy statement

Departments and agencies must support the management of their human resources with practical and effective information. The importance of human resources justifies an investment to manage and administer this resource effectively.

Application

This policy applies to all departments and other portions of the Public Service listed in Part I of Schedule I of the Public Service Staff Relations Act.

Policy requirements

Departments must:

Monitoring

Departments must audit their personnel management information holdings regularly (at least once every 5 years) to affirm that the management and administration of human resources is effectively supported with useful, complete and accurate information. The Treasury Board Secretariat may request such audit findings for review.

References

Access to Information Act

Privacy Act

Data Matching and Control of the Social Insurance Number

Employee Privacy Code

Treasury Board Manual, Information management volume:

- Chapter 1, Management of Information Technology

- Chapter 2, Management of Government Information Holdings

This chapter replaces chapter 14 of PMM volume 1.

Enquiries

Enquiries about this policy should be directed to the responsible departmental officers who may direct questions to:

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Appendix A - Personal Record Identifier Guidelines

Objective

The objective of these guidelines is to provide a framework for the assignment, use, disclosure, collection and protection of the Personal Record Identifier (PRI).

The PRI is personal information as defined by the Privacy Act (section 3). As such, the use, disclosure, collection and protection of this number must be managed in a way that takes into account the Privacy Act's principles of fair information practices.

Background

In response to concerns that misuse of the Social Insurance Number (SIN) could threaten individual privacy, a decision was made to limit its collection and use in the federal government to those activities explicitly authorized by Cabinet. The decision reflects the concern of the Parliamentary Committee on Justice and the Solicitor General in the report, Open and Shut, that use of the SIN be more consistent with the original intent of Parliament.

Federal government institutions are phasing out administrative use of the SIN. The PRI has been developed to fulfil the requirement to identify employees.

Definitions

Central Index (CI) (fichier central (FC)) - the system administered by Supply and Services Canada that will manage assigning PRIs to eligible employees (fichier central (FC));

data bank (Banque de donnée) - a personal information bank that is organized or intended to be accessed by the name of an individual or by an identifying number, symbol or other designation assigned to an individual;

employee (employé) - a person employed by the federal government who is subject to Schedule I, Part I of the Public Service Staff Relations Act (PSSRA I-I) or a person who is an Order-in-Council appointee to a PSSRA I-I federal government institution;

Individual Agency Number (IAN) (numéro individuel d'organisme (NFO)) - a number assigned to communicate employee information to outside organizations

personal information (renseignements personnels) - information about an identifiable individual that is recorded in any form that is defined in section 3 of the Privacy Act;

Personal Record Identifier (PRI) (code d'identification de dossier personnel (CIDP)) - a number assigned to associate an employee with his or her personal records in the federal Public Service.

Assignment

Federal government institutions are responsible for ensuring that their employees are assigned a PRI and for informing employees of this identifier.

The Central Index will be used to create and assign the PRI. The PRI will be used for pay and other employee records within the federal government.

The PRI will be assigned to employees who are subject to Schedule I, Part I of the Public Service Staff Relations Act (PSSRA I-I). Individuals employed by separate employers and Crown corporations, which are not subject to PSSRA I-I, will be assigned a different identifier.

Use and disclosure

Federal government institutions use the PRI whenever there is a need to identify employees.

Federal government institutions that are subject to PSSRA I-I will have access to the employee identifiers within this population. Separate employers and Crown corporations will not have access to these identifiers.

Federal government institutions will not release the PRI to outside organizations such as unions, banks and insurance companies. For these purposes a completely separate identifier, the Individual Agency Number, will be used to communicate employee information.

Employees are to provide their PRI when requested to do so by their employing institution, or by another federal government institution, for employment-related purposes. Employees are not obliged to provide their PRI to any agency outside the federal government for any reason and it is recommended that employees not allow their PRI to be used outside the federal government.

The Central Index and the data banks approved in the 1988 Treasury Board decision may contain both the SIN and the PRI. Other data banks shall not contain both the SIN and the PRI. Requests for any further exceptions must be submitted to Treasury Board for approval.

Collection

As required by the Privacy Act, when collecting the PRI, federal government institutions must inform the individual of the purpose for which it is being collected and of any rights, benefits and privileges that may be withheld if an individual refuses to disclose the PRI to a federal government institution.

References

Privacy Act and Regulations

Management of Government Information Holdings

Privacy policy and policy guidelines (Data Matching and Control of SIN)

Employee Privacy Code

Enquiries

Enquiries about these guidelines should be directed to:

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Appendix B - Individual Agency Number Guidelines

Objective

The objective of these guidelines is to provide a framework for federal government institutions in the assignment, use, disclosure, protection and collection of the Individual Agency Number (IAN).

The IAN is personal information as defined by the Privacy Act (section 3). As such, the assignment, use, disclosure, protection and collection of this number must be managed within federal government institutions in a way that takes into account the Privacy Act's principles of fair information practices.

Background

The introduction of the IAN is the last of two steps the federal government has taken to limit the use of the Social Insurance Number (SIN) as an employee identifier.

The first step was the implementation of the Personal Record Identifier (PRI) which is used for internal government administration and not given to outside organizations. The second step is the implementation of the IAN which is used to control the provision of personal information to remittance agencies such as unions, financial institutions, insurance companies and charitable groups.

Definitions

CentralIndex(CI)(fichier central (FC) - the system administered by Public Works and Government Services Canada to manage the assignment of PRIs and IANs;

employee (employé) - a person who is or was employed by a federal government institution and for whom there is a requirement on the part of the federal government to communicate with a remittance agency

employer type (type d'employeur) - there are two employer types in these guidelines: either federal government institutions which are listed in Schedule 1, Part I of the Public Service Staff Relations Act (PSSRA) and for which the Treasury Board is the employer or federal government institutions which are not listed in Schedule 1, Part I of the Public Service Staff Relations Act (i.e. separate employers and Crown corporations) and for which the Treasury Board is not the employer

Individual Agency Number (IAN) (numéro individuel d'organisme (NIO)) - a number assigned to communicate employee information to remittance agencies

personal information: (renseignements personnels) - information about an identifiable individual recorded in any form as defined in section 3 of the Privacy Act

Personal Record Identifier (PRI) (code d'identification de dossier personnel (CIDP)) - a number assigned to associate an employee with his or her personal records in the federal Public Service;

Remittance Agency (organisme de remise) - an organization outside the federal Public Service to which federal government institutions remit money on behalf of employees (i.e. charitable organizations, financial institutions and insurance administrators etc.).

Assignment of IANs

The Central Index will be used to create and assign IANs in circumstances where a number is deemed necessary to identify employees to remittance agencies. A different IAN is used to identify an employee to each remittance agency. Unlike the PRI, employees keep the same IANs if they change employer types during their careers.

Because it is a number designed for remittance agencies, employees do not need to know their IANs. However, federal government institutions must provide them to employees upon their request.

Use and disclosure

The federal government created the IAN to replace the SIN in dealing with remittance agencies.

Subject to the provisions of subsection 8(2) of the Privacy Act, IANs will only be disclosed to the remittance agency for which they were created.

Collection

Federal government institutions will not need to collect IANs from employees.

References

Privacy Act and Regulations

Privacy policy and policy guidelines (Data Matching and Control of SIN)

Employee Privacy Code

Personal Record Identifier (PRI) Guidelines

Enquiries

Enquiries about these guidelines should be directed to:

 

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