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Archive for September, 2009

Ban on hand-held devices in force October 26

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

Ontario’s ban on hand-held devices while driving will take effect on October 26, 2009. It will be illegal for drivers to talk, text, type, dial or email using hand-held cell phones and other hand-held communications and entertainment devices. There will be a three month transition period for enforcement where the focus will be on educating drivers; police will start issuing tickets on February 1, 2010.

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Tags: ban on cellphone use, canadian employment law, cellphone use, employment law, health and safety, Highway traffic act, HR issues, Human Resources, occupational health and safety, ontario, policy, vicarious liability, workers compensation
Posted in Employment Standards, Human Resources | 1 Comment »

After hours access to work may lead to overtime claims

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

We’ve been hearing lately that in the United States employers are being held liable to employees for overtime compensation for using PDAs/BlackBerrys after hours for work and for checking work-related emails. We’ve been made aware of four such class action suits by employees that allege, among other claims, that the company provides them with BlackBerrys or other smart devices, and that they are required to review and respond to work-related emails and text messages at all hours of the day, amounting to 10 to 15 overtime hours per week.

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Tags: Blackberrys, canadian employment law, cellphone use, class action suit, employment law, employment standards, hours of work, HR issues, Human Resources, Labour Law, overtime, PDAs, policies and procedures, policy, portable devices
Posted in Employment Standards, Human Resources | 6 Comments »

Introducing guest blogger Andrew Taillon

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

It’s a pleasure to welcome Andrew Taillon, a lawyer at Cox & Palmer, as our first guest blogger. He will be blogging about human resources, employment and labour related issues taking place in the Atlantic provinces.

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Tags: canadian employment law, Cox and Palmer, employment law, employment standards, HR issues, Human Resources, Labour Law
Posted in Announcements | Make a Comment »

Does your company have environmental policies?

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

Although sceptics might characterize environmental policies as “greenwashing”, there’s no question that these policies have moved into the mainstream. Companies are not making this move for altruistic reasons; the fact is that responsible environmental policies can make a company more competitive—more attractive to customers and other stakeholders, less expensive to operate, and more compliant with [...]

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Tags: environment
Posted in Environmental Law, Internal Controls | Make a Comment »

Upcoming changes to how temporary help agencies will operate in Ontario

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

On November 6, 2009, amendments to Ontario’s Employment Standards Act (ESA) will come into force. Temporary help agencies will have new responsibilities, and temporary help assignment employees will have new rights. The new requirements only cover assignment employees working for agencies but not employees who work for the agency and are not sent out on assignments with clients.

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Tags: canadian employment law, employment law, employment standards, ontario employment standards act, temporary employees, temporary help agencies
Posted in Employment Standards, Human Resources | Make a Comment »

Exempting truck drivers from ban on cellphone use

Monday, September 14th, 2009

I was recently made aware that the Ontario and Manitoba Trucking Associations are trying to convince regulators in their respective provinces to exempt CB radios and certain communication devices used specifically by truck drivers for dispatch and business-related purposes from the provincial bans on cellphone use and texting while driving that are to come into force this fall.

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Tags: ban on cellphone use, cellphone use, employment law, Highway traffic act, HR issues, Human Resources, OH&S, ontario, trucking, vicarious liability
Posted in Employment Standards, Human Resources | 4 Comments »

What will Ontario’s Bill 168 mean for businesses? (Part 2)

Friday, September 11th, 2009

Unfortunately, Bill 168 as it stands is vague with regard to what employers must actually do in cases where domestic violence enters the workplace. Legal authorities seem to have little direction to offer on the matter as well.

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Tags: Bill 168, domestic violence, health and safety, HR issues, Human Resources, OH&S, OHSA, ontario, workplace violence
Posted in Health and Safety, Human Resources | Make a Comment »

What will Ontario’s Bill 168 mean for businesses? (Part 1)

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

All workplaces house risks to employees’ health and safety in varying degrees: factories have machinery that can cause serious injuries; warehouses store loads and move them around with cumbersome vehicles, both of which have the potential to injure; even office environments are far from risk-free, although the threats tend to be less visible, like poor indoor air quality and ergonomic arrangements. However, only in the last decade or so has the issue of violence in the workplace gained wide recognition—and this is an issue that can affect all workplaces indiscriminately.

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Tags: Bill 168, domestic violence, health, HR issues, Human Resources, occupational health and safety, OH&S, OHSA, ontario, safety, workplace violence, worplace safety and insurance act, wsib
Posted in Health and Safety, Human Resources | 1 Comment »

Expanding ban on cellphone use while driving

Wednesday, September 9th, 2009

An increasing number of studies show that driving while talking on a cellphone can be dangerously distracting. Some studies state that talking on a cellphone while driving makes a person four times more likely to be in a crash. This is a much higher risk than most other distracting activities. As a result, the governments of Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island and British Columbia have announced that they will draft legislation this fall to ban the use of hand-held electronic devices (such as cellphones) to talk or text while driving a vehicle; joining the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba, who have banned or are in the process of banning the use of hand-held wireless devices while driving this fall.

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Tags: ban on cellphone use, cellphone use, employment law, Highway traffic act, Human Resources, vicarious liability
Posted in Employment Standards, Human Resources | Make a Comment »

Swine flu and the workplace

Monday, September 7th, 2009

With a new wave of swine flu (H1N1) predicted to hit by mid-October 2009, the Public Health Agency of Canada in collaboration with provincial and territorial governments have launched a new website FightFlu.ca at www.fightflu.ca. It is a one-stop access to online information and resources about H1N1 flu virus. In addition, the agency has awarded a contract worth $926,600 under the Pandemic Preparedness Response Fund to the International Centre for Infectious Diseases (ICID) to develop tools and strategies that small and medium sized businesses can use to take action to ensure they recognize and deal with the challenges brought on by the virus, and develop plans to deal with increased employee absenteeism and disruptions in their operations.

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Tags: Absenteeism, Business continuity, emergency preparedness, H1N1, health and safety, HR issues, human rights, illness at work, Leaves of absence, occupational health and safety, pandemic, pandemic planning, pandemic policies, policy, sick leave, swine flu, swine flu at work, workers compensation, workplace preparedness
Posted in Health and Safety, Human Resources | 8 Comments »

The cost of malware

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

After a carefree summer, here´s just the thing to help you prepare for the terrors of the modern workplace: a recent OECD study entitled Computer Viruses and Other Malicious Software: A Threat to the Internet Economy, which estimates that the average business spends between 6 and 10 percent of its total technology budget addressing issues arising from malware.

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Tags: IT controls, malware
Posted in Internal Controls, IT, Privacy and Security | Make a Comment »

Archive for September, 2009

Ban on hand-held devices in force October 26

After hours access to work may lead to overtime claims

Introducing guest blogger Andrew Taillon

Does your company have environmental policies?

Upcoming changes to how temporary help agencies will operate in Ontario

Exempting truck drivers from ban on cellphone use

What will Ontario’s Bill 168 mean for businesses? (Part 2)

What will Ontario’s Bill 168 mean for businesses? (Part 1)

Expanding ban on cellphone use while driving

Swine flu and the workplace

The cost of malware

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