Bullying and Harassment: Addressing borderline cases
December 10, 2020 While bullying and harassment are often easily identified, workplace parties are regularly required to address cases involving behaviour that is more difficult to characterize. Employers and unions must be prepared [...]
Rooting Out Racism: Practical guidance for employers and unions
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 [...]
Workplace Disability Management Systems: Injury/illness rehabilitation, return-to-work plans, and accommodation
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 [...]
Uber Plus – Employment Update: Class actions that succeed, termination clauses that fail, and more
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 [...]
Labour Relations from Your Living Room’, ‘Confidentiality, technology use, and other issues in the remote workplace
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 [...]
“Cancel Culture” and the Workplace: Weighing freedom of expression against the employer’s reputational interest
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 [...]
Doctors at a Distance: Obtaining medical information and protecting privacy in the remote era
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 [...]
Caregiving Needs, Workplace Challenges: How does COVID-19 affect family status accommodation?
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 [...]
Accommodating Disability in the wake of COVID-19: What rules apply? What has changed?
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 [...]
Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tooth: Responding to employee disloyalty and breaches of trust
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 [...]
It’s All About Attitude: Is there a duty to be happy at work? When is a bad attitude a disciplinary offence?
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" [...]
Workplace Violence and Threat Assessment: Essential guidance from the experts
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 [...]
Benefits That Benefit: Designing affordable plans that meet employee needs, enhance retention, and prevent discrimination
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, [...]
Workplace Harassment: Responses that minimize harm to employees and employers
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 [...]
Sickness and Disability Leave: Accommodating employees, preventing abuse, facilitating return to work
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 [...]
Spotlight on Compulsive Behaviour: The duty to accommodate gaming, gambling, sex addiction, and more
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 [...]
Modern Federal Labour Standards: An update on recent and recommended changes
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 [...]
Accommodating Episodic Disabilities: The latest law and research
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, [...]
Righting Wrongs: Extraordinary remedies for egregious cases
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 [...]
On the Horizon in Accommodation: ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, mild cognitive impairment, and other emerging issues
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 [...]
Playing by the Rules: The limits on employer rules and policies
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 [...]
Closing the Divide: Innovative strategies for confronting discrimination and supporting a diverse workforce
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 [...]
Whistle While You Work? Drawing the line on whistleblowing, free speech, and other forms of workplace expression
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 [...]
Disciplinary Investigations: Essential guidance from the experts
March 5, 2020 Employers are often called upon to conduct — and employees and unions must respond on short notice to — workplace investigations into alleged misconduct. Mistakes in these investigations can be [...]
Trendsetting Cases on Undue Hardship: What are the limits of the duty to accommodate?
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 [...]
Protecting Brains in the Knowledge Economy: A guide to psychological health and safety in the workplace
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 [...]
Labour and Human Rights Roundup: Key cases from 2019 and what they mean for 2020
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 [...]