Video evidence: the inside of a person's residence is her sacred space

A client care attendant challenges her dismissal for performing activities deemed incompatible following an occupational accident. The employer submitted shadowing evidence covering different days, which was not contested except with respect to December 21, when an investigator came to the employee’s residence and filmed her from the front door inside her apartment. The investigator had taken advantage of the absence of the employee’s spouse, who was the janitor of the building where she lived, to pretend he wanted to rent an apartment. According to the arbitrator, the inside of a person’s residence has always been deemed sacred space by the courts. To enter and film such residence under false pretences is a serious violation of privacy. To approve evidence obtained under such circumstances would cast a shadow on the administration of justice. Groupe Champlain Inc. (Gatineau) v. Syndicat québécois des employées et employés de service, Local 298 (FTQ) (G. Huot) , DTE 2009T-431(T.A.) Me Jean-Pierre Lussier