What information can job applicants find out after a candidate has been chosen?
• Candidates can generally see all of their own personal information, provided that personal information about other candidates is severed from the records. Other information which could be disclosed includes factors used in assessment, and ratings and rankings provided no personal identifier is disclosed. • Candidates can generally access their references’ comments, since this is information about them. However, if the references were supplied in confidence, the information may be withheld under section 19 of the FOIP Act. • In Order F2002-008 (pdf), the Adjudicator upheld the public body’s decision to withhold two pages of hand-written notes made by an employee of the public body while conducting a telephone reference check on the applicant. The information in the two pages satisfied the three-part test under the exception for confidential evaluations (section 19(1)) as the pages contained personal information that was both evaluative and opinion, the information was compiled for the
