Section 23 — Employment Equity Act: Powers of compliance officers

For the purposes of ensuring compliance with the provisions referred to in subsection 22(1), a compliance officer may conduct a compliance audit of an employer and, for that purpose, may at any reasonable time, enter any place in which the officer believes on reasonable grounds there is any thing relevant to the enforcement of any of those provisions; and require any person to produce for examination or copying any record, book of account or other document that the officer believes on reasonable grounds contains information that is relevant to the enforcement of any of those provisions. In conducting a compliance audit, a compliance officer may reproduce or cause to be reproduced any record from a data processing system in the form of a print-out or other intelligible output and remove the print-out or other output for examination and copying; and use or cause to be used any copying equipment at the place to make copies of any record, book of account or other document. Compliance officers shall be furnished with certificates in a form established by the Commission certifying their designation as compliance officers and, on entering a place under paragraph (1)(a), a compliance officer shall show the certificate to the person in charge of the place if the person requests proof of the officer’s designation. The person in charge of a place entered pursuant to paragraph (1)(a) and every person found in the place shall give the compliance officer all reasonable assistance to enable the officer to exercise the powers conferred on compliance officers by this section; and provide the officer with any information relevant to the enforcement of this Act that the officer may reasonably require.