November 26, 2020 In May 2020, the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody reignited the Black Lives Matter movement, giving rise to mass anti-racism protests throughout the United States and subsequently [...]

November 12, 2020 According to Statistics Canada, approximately 22 percent of Canadians aged 15 and over — 6.2 million people — have at least one disability and consequently face barriers to full participation [...]

November 5, 2020 Leading counsel will review the past year's most important employment law decisions and explain how they will affect you in the coming year. The panel will also flag significant ongoing [...]

October 22, 2020 Due to the demanding nature of their jobs, most lawyers, union representatives, and human resources professionals are likely to have experienced working from home at least occasionally. However, the COVID-19 [...]

October 8, 2020 "Cancel culture," involving a swift public backlash over a person's offensive statements or actions, follows a predictable course: A person will say or do something offensive, often accompanied by a video broadcast [...]

September 29, 2020 Obtaining medical information relating to sick leave, disability accommodation, or return to work is normally a routine task for employers and unions. However, the COVID-19 crisis has amplified health-related issues [...]

September 24, 2020 As public health experts warn that the pandemic will continue for some time and with the potential for more stringent restrictions in the event of a second wave, the juggling [...]

September 15, 2020 COVID-related restrictions raise a host of novel issues regarding the accommodation of employees with disabilities. Public health guidelines, including those applicable to remote work and physical distancing, may impact current [...]

September 10, 2020 Shakespeare once characterized betrayal as being sharper than a serpent's tooth. While workplace betrayal may not rise to the dramatic heights of Shakespearean tragedy, arbitrators and courts have consistently recognized [...]

August 27, 2020 There are many reasons why people put on a happy face at work. Whether it's to please customers, to live up to job descriptions that seek applicants who are "upbeat" [...]

August 13, 2020 Occupational health and safety statutes across Canada require employers to take steps to prevent workplace violence. These steps generally include assessing the risk of workplace violence that may arise and [...]

July 23, 2020 An attractive, comprehensive benefit plan is crucial to employee health and morale, workplace productivity, and recruitment and retention of top talent. But as today's workforce is more diverse than ever, [...]

July 9, 2020 Recent cases have demonstrated the increasing willingness of courts and tribunals to award significant damages against employers who fail to respond to workplace harassment. As this upward trend continues, employers [...]

June 18, 2020 In recent months, issues related to leaves and return to work have gained new prominence as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Employers and unions have routinely been called upon [...]

June 9, 2020 While we usually think of addictions in terms of involving substances such as drugs and alcohol, there is a movement within the medical community to classify as addictions the compulsive [...]

May 21, 2020 In December 2019, the Expert Panel on Modern Federal Labour Standards released 39 recommendations that could affect federally regulated workplaces, and Prime Minister Trudeau gave the federal Minister of Labour [...]

May 14, 2020 Episodic disabilities, such as depression, anxiety, arthritis, and multiple sclerosis, are characterized by periods of good health alternating with periods of illness or disability. Because symptoms of these disabilities fluctuate, [...]

May 7, 2020 Over the past few years, courts, human rights tribunals, and labour arbitrators across Canada have been releasing a series of groundbreaking remedial awards. Are damages on the rise? What lessons [...]

April 30, 2020 Although they are lifelong conditions, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are often thought of as childhood conditions. Conversely, the popular conception of individuals with age-related [...]

April 16, 2020 Employers have the right to manage their workplaces, including by creating and implementing rules with disciplinary consequences, but in a unionized environment, the rules must be reasonable, clear, and uniformly [...]

April 2, 2020 While organizations may recognize the importance of a diverse workforce and even identify diversity as a priority, they regularly encounter challenges in successfully recruiting and retaining diverse employees. Furthermore, despite [...]

March 19, 2020 In an era in which everyone carries a smartphone and freely shares views on social media, the chance of "going viral" is a real risk, as one Saskatchewan nurse discovered [...]

February 20, 2020 While there is no disputing that employers have a duty to accommodate up to the point of undue hardship, workplace parties still face significant uncertainty in determining exactly when, in practice, that [...]

February 6, 2020 As a result of recent but profound changes to working practices — and a general shift to a knowledge-based economy — workplace psychosocial hazards and work-related stress are emerging as [...]

January 30, 2020 Seasoned counsel will review the most important labour and human rights decisions from the past year and explain how they will affect you in the coming year. The panel will [...]