Employer gave insurer copies of workers' compensation reports
An Alberta public employer disclosed too much of an employee’s personal information to its benefits provider as part of a benefits claim, the Office of the Alberta Privacy Commissioner has ruled.
Alberta Health Services (AHS) had its group disability benefits provided by Great-West Life Assurance Company. On Feb. 14, 2007, an AHS employee was injured at work. She filed a successful claim for workers’ compensation benefits and also applied to Great-West Life for disability payments.
Over the next several months, AHS sent two faxes to Great-West Life, which had reports from the Alberta Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) dealing with the employee’s claim. The reports contained information about the employee’s injury, treatment, recovery and prognosis. The employee felt these reports contained more of her information than was necessary and filed a privacy complaint.
AHS initially denied it disclosed any of the employee’s health information to Great-West Life, claiming it only disclosed payroll information. It also argued she signed a consent form as part of her application for disability benefits that consented to the disclosure of her personal information to Great-West Life. The consent form specifically stated Great-West Life would request additional medical information “directly from your physician” if it was needed, to simplify the claim process, as well as exchange information with the employer for “rehabilitation and return to work planning.”
The adjudicator found the employee did consent to the disclosure of medical information from her doctor to Great-West Life. However, the WCB reports attached to the faxes were not from her doctor and, as a result, the employee did not consent to AHS’ disclosure of the reports to Great-West Life.
