The SNC-Lavalin headquarters in Montreal. The company has fired two employees at its Candu Energy nuclear division and imposed a lesser penalty on a third.Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press
SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. SNC-T has fired two employees at its Candu Energy Inc. nuclear division and imposed a lesser penalty on a third after an investigation into allegations of sharing confidential information outside the organization.
Montreal-based engineering company SNC-Lavalin said on Wednesday it made the moves after an internal probe confirmed the staff members had shared proprietary information with their union, whose officials do not have the necessary security clearance.
The employees had been on paid administrative leave since the start of the year, when evidence in contravention of the company’s code of conduct and protection of information procedures was brought forward, the company said.
“While none of the breaches found over the course of the investigation were serious enough to compromise nuclear safety, the safety of our employees or that of the public at large, they are still very grave,” SNC-Lavalin spokesperson Laurence Myre Leroux said in a statement. “The company has reported these breaches to Public Services and Procurement Canada and to a very few affected customers.”
Ms. Leroux declined to identify the employees, but said they were unionized staff, not managers.
The terminations come amid contention between the company and the Society of Professional Engineers and Associates (SPEA), the union representing about 900 Candu Energy employees, over the issue of e-mail monitoring.
Previously, SPEA complained that SNC had been surveilling e-mails between the union and staff during collective bargaining negotiations in 2021. Its accusation became part of two unfair labour practice complaints filed by the union with the Canadian Industrial Relations Board.
At the time, the union was in talks over a new collective agreement for Candu Energy workers. When it raised this e-mail monitoring with SNC, the union said SNC refused to investigate the issue, and instead focused on questioning why employees used corporate e-mail accounts to communicate with the union.
However, SNC said on Wednesday that it began its investigation after the company received a confidential complaint on its “Integrity Reporting Line,” which is operated by a third party.
Ms. Leroux said the company monitored employee e-mails between 2019 and early 2022 as part of an internal audit related to an accusation about potential breaches of information between employees and the union.
Initially, the probe was inconclusive, but the company made the decision to keep up surveillance. “Candu Energy is in the nuclear sector, they have a licence to operate technology, they handle [intellectual property] from clients – very sensitive information, so security is important,” she said.
Officials with SPEA were not immediately available for comment.
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Jeffrey Jones