Foreign Telework
As per consultations with the Departmental Crisis Management Team in December, 2020, the decision to allow or not to allow an employee to do Foreign Telework will now be at the discretion of the employee's Assistant Deputy Minister after considering the risks, and/or recommendations provided by Security, Labour Relations and Occupational Health and Safety in the overall assessment of the request.
Key points
- Employees should be aware that foreign telework is restricted at ESDC. Any employee working from outside Canada requires a valid Foreign Telework Agreement (FTA). ADM-level approval and consultation with ESDC Security, Labour Relations and Occupational Health and Safety must be done prior to leaving Canada. The process should be initiated as early as possible, and requires a minimum of ten working days.
- The FTA process includes a review of the risks to employees, to the department, to departmental assets and the government information they may contain.
- If an employee needs to depart immediately, for example for personal or family reasons, they cannot immediately commence telework. They may need to take leave and receive their devices later if/when their Foreign Telework Agreement is approved.
- Employees going on personal travel or business travel must also obtain approval if they want to bring ESDC assets (e.g. phone, laptop) with them. A travel device may be issued.
- Any employees who are found to be working from outside Canada without a valid Foreign Telework Agreement will lose their access (VPN, M365 etc.) once the situation is formally raised to the Chief Security Officer. Access will only be reinstated when an FTA agreement is in place and the employee will need to take leave until it is approved.
- If you are aware of any employees whose agreement has expired, or who do not have a current agreement while they are working outside of Canada, initiate the FTA process with your employee immediately.
- Working outside Canada without approval will be treated as a security incident; the employee's ADM and the Chief Security Officer will be notified. Managers will need to fill out a security incident report.