18​ Employees Policy

EA is committed to ensuring all workforce members actively address security and compliance in their roles at EA. As such, training is imperative to ensuring an understanding of current best practices, the different types and sensitivities of data, and the sanctions associated with non-compliance.

​18.1​ Employment Policies

1. All new workforce members, including contractors, are given training on security policies and procedures, including operations security, within 30 days of employment.
   • Records of training are kept for all workforce members.
   • Current EA training is hosted on EA’s private internal network.
   • Employees must complete this training before accessing production systems containing ePHI.
2. All workforce members are granted access to formal organizational policies, which include the sanction policy for security violations.
3. The EA Employee Handbook clearly states the responsibilities and acceptable behavior regarding information system usage, including rules for email, Internet, mobile devices, and social media usage.
   • Workforce members are required to sign an agreement stating that they have read and will abide by all terms outlined in the EA Employee Handbook, along with all policies and processes described in this document.
   • A Human Resources representative will provide the agreement to new employees during their onboarding process.
4. EA does not allow mobile devices to connect to any of its production networks.
5. All workforce members are educated about the approved set of tools to be installed on workstations.
6. All workforce members are educated that all system usage may be tracked at any time for policy compliance
7. All new workforce members are given PIPEDA training within 30 days of beginning employment. Training includes PIPEDA reporting requirements, including the ability to anonymously report security incidents, and the levels of compliance and obligations for EA and its Customers and Partners.
   • Current EA training is hosted on EA’s private internal network.
8. All remote (teleworking) workforce members are trained on the risks, the controls implemented, their responsibilities, and sanctions associated with violation of policies. Additionally, remote security is maintained through the use of VPN tunnels for all access to production systems with access to ePHI data.

9. All EA purchased and owned computers are to display this message at login and when the computer is unlocked:

   This computer is owned by Effortless Admin Inc. By logging in, unlocking, and/or using this computer you acknowledge you have seen, and follow, these policies (https://effortlessdev.github.io/policies/) and have completed company training. Please contact us if you have problems with this - .

10. Employees may only use EA purchased and owned workstations for accessing production systems with access to ePHI data.
    • Any workstations used to access production systems must be configured as prescribed in Section 6.7.
    • Any workstations used to access production systems must have virus protection software installed, configured, and enabled.
    • EA may monitor access and activities of all users on workstations and production systems in order to meet auditing policy requirements (Section 7).
11. Access to internal EA systems can be requested using the procedures outlined in Section 6.1. All requests for access must be granted by the EA Security Officer.
12. Request for modifications of access for any EA employee can be made using the procedures outlined in Section 6.1.
13. Employees are required to cooperate with federal and provincial investigations.
    • Employees must not interfere with investigations through willful misrepresentation, omission of facts, or by the use of threats against any person.
    • Employees found to be in violation of this policy will be subject to sanctions as described in Section 4.2.3.

​18.2​ Issue Escalation

EA workforce members are to escalate issues using the procedures outlined in the Employee Handbook. Issues that are brought to the Escalation Team are assigned an owner. The membership of the Escalation Team is maintained by the Chief Executive Officer.

Security incidents, particularly those involving ePHI, are handled using the process described in Section 10.1. If the incident involves a breach of ePHI, the Security Officer will manage the incident using the process described in Section 11.1. Refer to Section 10.1 for a list of sample items that can trigger EA’s incident response procedures; if you are unsure whether the issue is a security incident, contact the Security Officer immediately.

It is the duty of that owner to follow the process outlined below:

1. Create an Issue in the Asana Compliance Review Activity (CRA) Project.
2. The Issue is investigated, documented, and, when a conclusion or remediation is reached, it is moved to Review.
3. The Issue is reviewed by another member of the Escalation Team. If the Issue is rejected, it goes back for further evaluation and review.
4. If the Issue is approved, it is marked as Done, adding any pertinent notes required.
5. The workforce member that initiated the process is notified of the outcome via email.