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

When can a Unionized Employee Sue the Employer?

Posted on February 14, 2010
The Court of Appeal in Walters v. TTC (February 11, 2010, Ont. C.A.) recently confirmed that, in deciding whether to allow a unionized employee to sue his or her employer in Court, rather than file a grievance under a collective agreement, the task of the Court "is to determine whether,...

Negligent Hiring

Posted on February 08, 2010
George's Employment Blog has a guest post on negligent hiring that's worth reading. The author discusses the recent California case Philips v. TLC Plumbing. I've written a number of times on this blog about negligent hiring (here, here, here) and, while Canadian cases remain rare, Canadian employers would be wise...

Effective Releases in Human Rights Cases

Posted on January 15, 2010
The Ontario Human Rights Tribunal in Oxley v. Gus Brown Pontiac Buick GMC considered whether a release signed by a terminated employee was effective to bar her human rights complaint. The release included a provision that released the employer from complaints under the Ontario Human Rights Code...

Transparent Value Based Pricing

Posted on January 12, 2010
Jordan Furlong has an article in The Lawyers Weekly in which he asks whether 2010 be the year of the fixed fee? Jordan says: Many lawyers have grown accustomed to matching price to cost by directly billing their costs (hours worked) to clients, and to growing their revenue principally by...

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Discussing the Duty to Accommodate

Posted on January 10, 2010
There's a good discussion of the duty to accommodate in the recently released Human Rights Tribunal case of Scarlett v. Hamilton Health Sciences Corporation. Among other things: The duty to accommodate has both procedural and substantive obligations. (Meiorin) The procedural component requires an individualized investigation of accommodation measures and assessment...

Determining Jurisdiction in a Unionized Workplace

Posted on January 08, 2010
Sometimes unionized employees will sue their employer instead of pursuing the complaint as a grievance under the collective agreement. After considering the claims advanced and the collective agreement in issue, the employer will often bring a motion to strike out the claim on the basis that the Court has no...

Thank You and Clawbies

Posted on January 06, 2010
Thank you for all who emailed me with good wishes in response to my last post. I am excited about this new opportunity and am having a tremendous amount of fun so far. And, no, I do not miss the commute. Also, I am delayed in thanking all those who...

A New Year and a New Beginning

Posted on January 04, 2010
Happy New Year and I wish you all the best for 2010! I've been getting some email asking why the blogging has been so light. Well, now I can explain. After 17 wonderful years practicing labour and employment law with one of Canada's largest national law firms, I have decided...

Ontario Violence in the Workplace Bill Passes

Posted on December 10, 2009
On December 9, 2009, the Ontario Legislature passed Bill 168 (An Act to amend the Occupational Health and Safety Act with respect to violence and harassment in the workplace and other matters). Though the Act comes into force 6 months after receiving Royal Assent many employers are try to proactively...

Social Media as a Recruiting Tool

Posted on November 23, 2009
Going directly to your market ("fish where the fish are") through the use of social media like Twitter and LinkedIn seems to be gaining ground in recruiting according to this Globe and Mail article.

Sleep, Work and Safety

Posted on November 22, 2009
On November 24 NOVA has a program called What Are Dreams? and joins leading dream researchers as they "embark on a variety of neurological and psychological experiments to investigate the world of sleep and dreams." (thanks to Moleskinerie for the tip)...

Black Sheep and Disruptive Innovation

Posted on November 20, 2009
I've been giving some thought of late to the so called organizational "black sheep" - you know, the contrarians, "malcontents" and those that don't tow the company line (in fact, they might not even be aware that there is a company line or care that one exists if they are...

Is there a better way to cut costs?

Posted on November 08, 2009
That's what McKinsey & Company ask in a short Conversation Starter article. The article starts: According to a recent McKinsey Quarterly survey, 79 percent of all companies have cut costs in response to the global economic crisis?but only 53 percent of executives think that doing so has helped their companies...

Final Post on Distracted Driving in Ontario

Posted on October 24, 2009
You're going to have to pay a little more attention behind the wheel if your driving in or through Ontario. Bill 118 (an Countering Distracted Driving and Promoting Green Transportation Act, 2009) comes into force on Monday, October 26, 2009. The government has said that there will be a 3...

Keep on Trucking but Not Smoking in your Truck

Posted on October 09, 2009
The big news (also here) is the awarding of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama and that a trucker was fined $305 under the Smoke-Free Ontario Act for smoking in the workplace (his truck). The Act provides that "no person shall smoke tobacco or hold lighted tobacco in...

Multitasking Behind the Wheel in Ontario

Posted on October 03, 2009
On April 23 the Ontario legislature passed a bill (Bill 118) prohibiting anyone from holding or using a hand-held wireless communication device or other prescribed device that is capable of receiving or transmitting telephone communications, electronic data, mail or text messages...

Jordan Furlong Joins Edge International

Posted on October 03, 2009
My friend Jordan Furlong has joined Edge International! This is exciting news and I couldn't be happier for him. Have a read of Jordan's blog, Law21 and you'll get a taste of his thinking on "the unfolding nature of the legal profession". I've known Jordan for a long time (since...

EI Changes on the Horizon

Posted on September 08, 2009
The Globe and Mail reports that Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government is poised to introduce employment insurance reforms. There are more details in the National Post. The Liberals have threatened to force a fall election, and this move is surely designed to take some of the wind out of...

A Couple of Blog Anniversaries

Posted on September 07, 2009
Mike Maslanka writes a great blog called Work Matters that is celebrating its 1 year anniversary while Daniel Schwartz's Connecticut Employment Law Blog celebrates its 2nd anniversary. Congratulations to Mike and Daniel on their dedication and commitment and here's to another year of posting!

What a Difference a Year Makes

Posted on September 07, 2009
While there is some debate about the origin of the Labour Day holiday, it would seem that Canada is where it all began though it really doesn't much matter. Here's a short article from the Canadian Encyclopedia and another from Wikepedia. To many, the meaning of the holiday is lost...

The Most Recent Word on Random Alcohol Testing

Posted on September 05, 2009
I was about to write about the most recent case of Petro-Canada Lubricants Centre (Mississauga) and Oakville Terminal dealing with random alcohol testing and saw that Dan Michaluk has a great summary of the case at his blog. You'll see that Arbitrator Kaplan references a leading case of Arbitrator Picher...

August Labour Force Survey - Are Good Times Ahead?

Posted on September 04, 2009
The August Labour Force Survey is out and it's good news for a change: Employment among private sector employees increased by 49,000 in August, the first increase in this group since September 2008. Employment among both public sector employees and the self-employed edged down in August...

Social Media and Background Checks up at Slaw

Posted on September 03, 2009
I'm pleased to announce that I've been invited to be a contributor over at Slaw.ca and that my first post, Social Media and Background Checks is up at Slaw.

Be Brief but Never Short

Posted on September 02, 2009
Dan Michaluk offers a post about the art of brevity in legal writing. This goes hand in glove with my post A reminder about what we (lawyers) do. Good legal writing is persuasive - bad or sloppy legal writing has the opposite effect. Some feel the need to go on...

Labour relations is all about your point of view

Posted on September 01, 2009
The Fraser Institute has released its 2009 edition of Labour Relations Laws in Canada and the United States - An Empirical Comparison and it is sure to generate some healthy debate. Here's the blurb about the study and the perspective: "This study is the third installment of a long-term project...

Driving to distraction in Saskatchewan

Posted on September 01, 2009
Saskatchewan is the most recent province to indicate that they would introduce legislation that would ban texting and non-hands free cell phone use while driving. Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec and Nova Scotia already have varying bans in place and with Ontario's restrictions coming into effect in October.

A Reminder about What We (Lawyers) Do

Posted on August 30, 2009
Patrick Lamb has been blogging for a long time and I've been following his writing for years. While I've never met him or, for that matter, spoken to him (though I'd like to), I've found his insights to be so on the money. He's a true rebel. Don't believe me?...

Using Strike Replacements

Posted on August 28, 2009
Strikes and lockouts are never fun events. No one "wants" these things. Companies are in business to make a profit and employees want to work to provide for themselves and their families. I wouldn't go so far as to say that a strike or lockout means that the union and...

Online Anonymity Going, Going .... Almost Gone

Posted on August 25, 2009
Interesting piece in the Globe following a recent decision out of New York where a Canadian fashion model filed a claim against a blogger. The article points out that before "she could launch a defamation suit, she had to know who the blogger was. The court ordered Google, which manages...

Up and Running At Slaw.ca

Posted on August 24, 2009
I wanted to thank Professor Fodden at the excellent Slaw.ca for contacting me a few months ago and inviting our firm to be the "Guest Firm Bloggers" this week. Today there will be a couple of employment law posts from myself and Kate Zavitz (see Kate's post Facebook: Employee's Lives...

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