Thoughts from a Management Lawyer: Labor & Employment Law

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Labor & Employment Law

Thoughts from a Management Lawyer

Commentary and discussion of current and topical Canadian labour and employment law issues by a management-side labour and employment lawyer.

Post Frequency: 1.2/day

Last Entry: March 31, 2011 at 20:36:49

The Death of the Holiday Party?

Posted on December 10, 2007
Is the company holiday party a thing of the past? There's been allot written about employer liability associated with holding a holiday party for employees. It makes you wonder whether it's really worth it. Sure, there are lots of positives, but there are also many risks...

Data Leaks and Criminal Offences - CEOs Beware

Posted on December 09, 2007
A little off topic, but I saw an article at the Times Online (Call for CEOs to carry can for data leaks) and was intrigued. The gist of the article is that: MPs are considering changes to data protection laws that would make chief executives directly responsible for keeping the...

Is Workplace Pornography a Health and Safety Issue?

Posted on December 08, 2007
Yes, according to a post on Andrew Scott-Howman's excellent Life at Work Blog (see Workplace porn: a health and safety issue?) in which Andrew discusses a recent New Zealand case: On the basis of the authority?s determination, there is little doubt that Williams was exposed to material that was inappropriate...

International Day of Disabled Persons

Posted on December 03, 2007
December 3 is International Day of Disabled Persons. This year?s theme is based on the right of persons with disabilities to work on an equal basis with others and the International Labour Organization will be releasing a report by Dr. Arthur O'Reilly entitled The Right to Decent Work of Persons...

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Is Death by Overwork Compensable?

Posted on November 30, 2007
A court in Japan has ordered the government to pay compensation to a widow whose husband died from overwork (the Globe and Mail has a short article). According to a Reuters article: Overworking is a serious issue in Japan, where an average worker uses less than 50 percent of paid...

Passing of Former Chief Justice Antonio Lamer

Posted on November 25, 2007
The Globe and Mail reports on the passing of Former Chief Justice Antonio Lamer at the age of 74. The Chief Justice was one of the youngest judges ever to sit on the Supreme Court when he was appointed at age 47 by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in 1969.

Suing Union Members for Crossing the Picket Line

Posted on November 24, 2007
The Ontario Court of Justice was called upon in the test case of Birch v. Union of Taxation Employees, Local 70030 to consider whether the court should enforce the fines levied by the trade union against its members for breaching its constitution by crossing a picket line to work during...

Uniform Policies and Human Rights

Posted on November 22, 2007
The Muslim woman who was suspended without pay from her job at Pearson Airport in Toronto for wearing a skirt longer than the one supplied has been returned to work in a temporary position pending review of the employer's uniform policy. The Toronto Star provides some background: In February, Muse...

First Group of Magna Workers Join CAW Under Framework of Fairness

Posted on November 16, 2007
I'm a bit late to the party, but the CAW reports that "the more than 250 workers at Windsor Modules, a division of Magna, have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a first collective agreement negotiated by the Canadian Auto Workers union and to join the union under the Framework of...

CAW Framework for Fairness Agreement

Posted on November 14, 2007
Michael Urminsky has a post over at his Canadian Labour Law blog providing some updated information on the CAW Magna Template Agreement Part 2.

Concurrent Jurisdiction in Human Rights Matters

Posted on November 08, 2007
The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed a leave application with costs in the Calgary Health Region v. Alberta (Human Rights and Citizenship Commission) a case in which the Alberta Court of Appeal considered whether a labour arbitration board had exclusive jurisdiction to hear and determine allegations of discrimination and human...

Take Your Kids to Work and Health and Safety

Posted on November 07, 2007
Today is "Take Your Kids to Work Day" and the Grade 9 students will be taking over many workplaces across the country. It's one thing to be touring around an office, its quite another to be tagging along in a more dangerous work environment. The Ontario Government has put out...

Assessing the Amount of General Damages

Posted on November 06, 2007
For a variety of reasons, the subject of "general damages" will come up in the course of settlement discussion. The plaintiff, complainant or grievor will want to have the settlement or some of it allocated towards general damages to take advantage of certain tax relief associated with classifying the payment...

Detailed Termination Letters or Bare Bones?

Posted on November 05, 2007
I was recently asked whether I believed in providing employees with detailed for cause termination letters. People will differ on this and, frankly, my approach has changed somewhat over the years. There was a time when I ascribed to a "bare bones" sort of letter...

It's a Small World After All...

Posted on November 03, 2007
Yes, posting is light and I've been getting email asking if I was ok. The answer is "yes" just really, really busy. So, posting will be very light for the next month or so as I try to come up for air. Last week I received an email from New...

Thinking Outside the Box

Posted on October 21, 2007
There's a new website (to me at least) called Thinking Outside the Box which dubs itself as being: ... for anyone who wants to support employment for persons with disabilities. It is for employers, job seekers, employees, and union representatives looking for information about making workplaces more accessible and inclusive...

Framework for Fairness Agreement

Posted on October 20, 2007
There's been allot of discussion about the Framework for Fairness Agreement between the Canadian Auto Workers and Magna International Inc., a major automotive parts supplier and Canada's largest automotive employer. According to a CAW News Release: The agreement, called the Framework of Fairness, will allow Magna employees to participate in...

More on Overtime Claims

Posted on October 02, 2007
George Lenard has a post Employers Beware: Costly Overtime Suits Big Trend and also refers to the Business Week article Wage Wars I mentioned in yesterday's post. A couple of notable quotes from the Business Week article: Because wage and hour laws have been so widely violated, undetonated legal mines...

Wage and Hour Claims - The Next Thing

Posted on October 01, 2007
In case there was any doubt, Canadian employers should expect that they will be hearing allot more about hours of work an overtime claims. This type of claim has been booming in the U.S. as the Wall Street Journal Blog reports at The New New Thing: ?Wage and Hour? Litigation...

Labour Unrest in Alberta

Posted on September 23, 2007
Despite having the lowest rate of unionization of any of the Canadian provinces, Alberta has been making labour news as the Globe reports with Hundreds march in Edmonton to protest labour laws. This, and the court challenges reported in this article to have been filed (or to be filed) are...

NY Passes a Law Permitting Breastfeeding at Work

Posted on September 13, 2007
Thanks to Diane Pfadenhauer for her post New York Enacts New Law Protecting Rights of Nursing Mothers in the Workplace which was more recently picked up at Finally - NY Mothers Win Right to Breastfeed at Work. According to the New York Employment Law Blog, there are 39 states that...

Do you hate your job?

Posted on September 12, 2007
If yes, you're not alone. Diane Pfadenhauer points out that a recent Gallup survey finds that 77% of Americans Hate Their Jobs. This was picked up by Jay Shepherd at Ept managers lead to gruntled employees where he discusses another poll: On the other hand, 90% of managers think they're...

Employment Booming for Older Workers

Posted on September 11, 2007
Older workers, particularly women, experienced strong employment growth in August, bringing total gains for the 55 and over age group to 4.6% since the start of the year so says the September 7, 2007 issue of The Daily: "In August, almost all of the employment growth for adult men and...

The Debate Over Human Rights Reform Continues

Posted on September 11, 2007
The Law Times has an article about Concerns continue over new human rights system launching next summer. There are many open questions raised by Bill 107. One of the most talked about is the impact of the "direct access" system that will take effect on June 30, 2008...

A New Human Rights Blog Discovery

Posted on September 10, 2007
I just discovered a new blog called Human Rights in the Workplace by Donna Seale that I would commend you to. Donna is located in Manitoba and founded a consulting company providing "preventive legal advice, training and investigation services in the area of human rights law to public and private...

Expanded Student Health and Safety Program in Ontario

Posted on September 10, 2007
Refreshed and energized after a short trip to beautiful Quebec City. photo credit � Nicolas Raymond The Ontario McGinty government has expanded the student health and safety program with a view to "building a culture of safety awareness and prevention in young people before they get to the workplace"...

A Recent Case and a Digression on Lawyering

Posted on July 28, 2007
The Ontario Court of Appeal in Kitzman v. Babcock & Wilcox Canada Ltd. reversed a trial judgment as related to Wallace v. United Grain Growers Ltd. damages. In doing so, the Court of Appeal relied upon: The employee first claimed Wallace damages in his opening at trial and this claim...

Survey on Blog Firings

Posted on July 23, 2007
Thanks to Rob Hyndman for pointing me to a recent Wired post reporting on a recent Proofpoint survey which concludes that "nearly ten percent of companies have fired an employee for violating corporate blogging or message board policies, and 19 percent have disciplined an employee for the same infractions"...

McGuinty Government Making Summer Jobs Safe For Young Workers

Posted on June 21, 2007
The Ontario Liberal Government today announced that it is Making Summer Jobs Safe For Young Workers. According to the Press Release: "Statistics show that workplace injuries to new and young workers are four times more likely to occur during their first month of employment than at any other time," said...

The Refreshing Taste of Eating Crow

Posted on June 21, 2007
Thanks to James Stribopoulos, Assistant Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School and Editor-in-Chief of The Court for his email advising of the post by Professor Judy Fudge called Eating Crow: The Emergence of a Charter Right for Workers and Unions to Engage in Collective Activities in which Professor Fudge discusses...

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