To ensure that the management and administration of human
resources is supported with complete, accurate and well managed
information.
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.
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.
Departments must:
- have information that effectively and economically supports
the execution of personnel management decisions and the
day-to-day administration of employee pay, benefits and records,
and that informs management in a timely and accurate manner about
their human resources while protecting personal information as
defined and provided for in the Privacy Act;
- provide information to the central agencies in a timely
manner, in particular the Treasury Board Secretariat and the
Public Service Commission, about the management of human
resources; and
- adhere to the information management and data administration
standards established for service-wide personnel information. As
a minimum, standards published in the Management of government
information holdings policy and the Personnel Data Element
Dictionary must be followed.
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.
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 about this policy should be directed to the
responsible departmental officers who may direct questions
to:
Personnel Information Management
Classification, Equal Pay, Information and Pay Division
Human Resources Policy Branch
Treasury Board Secretariat
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:
Pay and Information
Classification, Equal Pay, Information and Pay Division
Human Resources Policy Branch
Treasury Board Secretariat
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:
Strategic Information Services
Office of Information Management, Systems and Technology
Treasury Board Secretariat
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