Tuesday, May 20, 2025
Workshop
*Workshop sold separately from stand-alone conference.
In the modern polarized world, how can employers and unions work together to effectively resolve and minimize workplace conflict before it escalates? This interactive workshop provides practical strategies for identifying and addressing conflict. Through panel discussions and hands-on exercises, attendees will learn to:
- Identify common sources of workplace conflict, including personality clashes, differing beliefs, and interpersonal communication issues.
- Understand the distinct roles of unions and employers in resolving disputes, investigating complaints, and fostering a harmonious workplace.
- Comply with legal requirements for addressing workplace conflict (e.g., health and safety requirements, wrongful dismissal claims, duties to investigate, duties of fair representation, duties to accommodate).
- Recognize when and how employers and unions must monitor or intervene, including in circumstances where questionable behaviour occurs outside the workplace.
- Develop clear workplace policies that outline acceptable behavior, detail internal complaint procedures, and set guidelines for initiating and conducting investigations and mediation processes.
Wednesday, May 21, 2025
Introduction: 9:00 am – 9:05 am AT
In this session, experts will examine recent significant developments in federal and provincial labour law. Panelists will address the latest cases on topics including:
- the legality of recent federal government interventions pausing or prohibiting strikes in the railway, postal, and other sectors;
- implications of the Supreme Court’s decision in the Quebec Casino case denying collective bargaining rights to front line supervisors;
- Quebec Court of Appeal decision upholding role of unions in selection of interest arbitrators;
- discrimination, harassment, and accommodation;
- employee expression of political views and/or religious beliefs at work;
- trends in discipline and damage awards;
- updates on privacy, surveillance, and monitoring;
- remote work — employer discretion and employee entitlement;
- issues of justification for substance use testing; and
- occupational health and safety — liability and damages.
Panelists will also address recent legislative and regulatory developments, such as:
- updated government guidance regarding requirements under federal supply chain transparency legislation;
- new collaborative return-to-work obligations introduced under Nova Scotia’s workers’ compensation legislation;
- New Brunswick’s new accessibility legislation;
- new sick leave employee entitlements and restrictions on employers’ entitlements to medical notes for short-term sick leave; and
- New Quebec legislation on arbitrator selection and government powers to pause or prohibit strikes.
Final selection of topics will take place in the weeks leading up to the conference, ensuring coverage of the latest and most newsworthy developments in a changing economic and political landscape.
Break: 10:20 am – 10:35 am AT
Chris Peddigrew
Arbitrator, Mediator and Investigator
Peddigrew Wade Law
Vice-Chairperson
Newfoundland and Labrador Labour Relations Board
Can employers monitor employee activity to ensure wages correspond to hours worked? In this webinar, experts will examine the impact of AI and remote workplaces on work habits, provide practical guidance on the scope and limitations of workplace surveillance, and discuss arbitrator responses to claims of employee “time theft.” Panelists will address:
- What constitutes employee “time theft”?
- How can AI be used for workplace surveillance? What steps should workplaces take to develop policies that comply with Bill C-27, the Digital Charter Implementation Act (which includes the introduction of the Artificial Intelligence Data Act)?
- Is the nature of the workplace relevant when implementing surveillance? Is the sensitivity of the information relevant?
- Is reasonable suspicion of “time theft” required before implementing workplace surveillance? Can surveillance originally implemented for safety or security purposes be used to monitor employee productivity?
- Is the scope of surveillance different for remote workers?
- What disciplinary measures do adjudicators and arbitrators consider appropriate for “time theft”?
- Are there limits to an employer’s retention and use of employee information obtained through surveillance?
Break: 11:35 am – 11:50 am AT
Following the Supreme Court’s judgment in York Region District School Board v. Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, the extent to which s.8 of the Charter protects the privacy of employees in the public sector has become one of the most talked about workplace law issues in Canada. While labour arbitrators have long recognized the privacy rights of employees, they often did so without explicit reference to the Charter. In addition, York and other cases suggest that the Charter may soon extend to other workplaces in the “MUSH” sector, notably universities, which have long been considered Charter-free zones. At the same time, the blending of personal and work-related uses of technology has resulted in a line of arbitral cases that applies Charter-like reasoning to private sector workplaces.
This presentation will discuss York‘s practical implications for both public and private sector workplaces. Although the Charter does not generally apply to the private sector, the judgment’s emphasis on the employment context in assessing the reasonableness of a search is useful guidance. And the Supreme Court’s “Charter-always” approach will have implications for how counsel and arbitrators tackle cases that engage privacy concerns in the public sector. Overall, these developments reflect a trend toward formalizing the recognition of employees’ right to privacy no matter where they work. But, in typical Charter fashion, this right is not absolute and may be invaded by employers for legitimate reasons and if personal information is not unduly exposed.
Lunch Break: 12:20 pm – 1:20 pm AT
Conducting workplace investigations is a delicate and complex process that demands fairness, precision, and a commitment to best practices. The panel will examine recent caselaw addressing workplace investigations and will explore key principles, best practices, and emerging guidance about conducting reasonable and effective investigations. The panel will address a series of questions including:
- What lessons can be learned from recent caselaw as to what constitutes a fair and adequate investigation process?
- What are best practices for countering unconscious and implicit bias and otherwise ensuring stereotypes and discrimination do not impact the investigatory process?
- What is the role of the union in an investigation? What are the limitations of union involvement?
- How much latitude do employers have to order investigations into off-duty conduct? Can workplace investigators request access to employees’ personal devices, such as laptops or cellphones, used primarily or exclusively for personal purposes?
- What strategies can workplace parties implement to address the challenges of conducting investigations in a remote work environment? Is there any proven or perceived benefit to conducting workplace investigations in-person?
- What lessons can be learned from recent caselaw about what information is protected in the investigative process?
- In what circumstances have arbitrators given remedies for an employer’s failure to investigate allegations?
- What should employers and unions be looking for when reviewing investigation reports?
Break: 2:30 pm – 2:45 pm AT
In this interactive session, panelists will address scenarios based on real cases involving allegations of discrimination, examining legal principles for identifying and addressing subtle, systemic, and complex forms of discrimination as well as meeting obligations such as the duty to accommodate. Panelists will address questions such as:
- How have arbitrators and human rights tribunals resolved evidentiary and credibility challenges when determining whether discrimination has occurred?
- What contextual factors have decision-makers considered in determining whether conduct which may seem innocuous on its face is, in fact, a subtle form of discrimination?
- What matters should be considered in determining whether systemic discrimination has adversely impacted an employee?
- How does the test for discrimination differ depending on the ground of discrimination that is alleged? For example, what unique considerations apply when determining whether an employee has been discriminated against on the basis of religion?
- When will a rule or standard that on its face appears to be discriminatory be justified as a bona fide occupational requirement? When will accommodating an employee amount to undue hardship?
- In what circumstances will employers be held liable for the discriminatory conduct of employees toward other employees in the workplace?
Scenarios will be finalized in the weeks leading up to the conference, ensuring coverage of the most relevant cases.
Closing remarks: 4:00 pm AT
Atlantic Labour Law Conference Bundle: Conference + Pre-Conference Workshop
$1,495.00Add to cart
Atlantic Labour Law Conference – Pre-Conference Workshop
$895.00Add to cart
Atlantic Labour Law Conference
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