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Archive for February, 2010

Background checks: Prospective employer asking for reference — Is it safe to provide?

Friday, February 26th, 2010

Upon first thought, employers may not be sure what to do when a prospective employer calls asking for a reference on a former employee. Is it safe to provide a reference when a prospective employer is conducting a background check on one of your former employees?

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Tags: background check, background checks, employee references, employer reference checking, Employment background checks, former employer, hiring, prospective employee, prospective employer, recruiting, reference, reference checking, selection process
Posted in Human Resources, Recruiting and Hiring | Make a Comment »

Racism in the news; racism in the workplace

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

Anyone who thinks that the days of individual and systemic racism in Canada are behind us should think again. It might not be nice to think about, but across the country, Canadians and visitors to Canada face racism every day.

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Tags: Cheryl Khan, discrimination, diversity, employment, employment discrimination, harassment, human rights, policies, racism, sensitivity training, workplace, workplace harassment, workplace policies
Posted in Human Resources, Human Rights | Make a Comment »

Workplace human rights: Before we really know for sure …

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

Recently, I was sitting on a bench in the park near my home. Regular readers know that I spend lots of my spare time in this beautiful park and I derive many “a-ha” moments of inspiration there. Anyway, this day I sat down and noticed that there were a number of empty soft drink containers littering the area around the bench. Soon after I sat down on the bench, a young child walked by, stopped in front of me and began pointing at all the empty pop cans.

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Tags: canadian employment law, canadian human rights law, discrimination, harassment, human rights
Posted in Human Resources, Human Rights | Make a Comment »

Workplace training: Proactive or reactive

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

Here’s a training tip I share with my workshop participants: Human rights sensitiviy training will probably not change racist opinions. Training will however let employees know how to file a complaint internally. This mechanism allows you to deal with the issue before it gets to the Human Right Tribunal. LEARN–DON’T LITIGATE.

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Tags: human rights training, workplace training
Posted in Human Resources, Human Rights, Training and Development | Make a Comment »

Overt racism in the workplace – it’s still here

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

I think most people recognize that racism—even overt racism—is still a factor in Canadian culture, but these strategy and news item make it clear: we’ve come a long way and can now openly say that racism exists and is something we want to eliminate; but we have also a long way to go yet before the Canadian dream of a multiculturally diverse society moves beyond mere tolerance toward true acceptance and equality.

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Tags: discrimination, diversity, harassment, human rights, occupational health and safety, ontario, Ontario Human Rights Code, racism, workplace harassment
Posted in Human Resources, Human Rights | 3 Comments »

An aging workforce: mandatory retirement (Part II)

Monday, February 8th, 2010

Across Canada, mandatory retirement has been all but completely phased out. Recently, all Canadian jurisdictions in Canada, except for federally regulated workplaces, have enacted legislation to amend their human rights laws and end the practice of mandatory retirement at age 65. This means…

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Tags: aging workforce, canadian human rights law, human rights act, human rights code, human rights law, human rights legislation, mandatory retirement
Posted in Human Resources, Human Rights | Make a Comment »

Are your employees surfing the Internet during work hours?

Friday, February 5th, 2010

With the technology at employees’ fingertips, employers worry about whether their employees are engaging in personal Internet use during work hours.

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Tags: canadian employment law, employee Internet use, employee theft, hours of work, Internet use during work hours, Internet use policy, policies and procedures, prohibited Internet use at work, social networking, theft
Posted in Employment Standards, Human Resources | 2 Comments »

What to do about employee theft

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

Have you experienced theft at your business? Who did it—an outsider, a new hire or the long-term employee you’d never have suspected? It could be any of them, and you shouldn’t be surprised if it’s the latter.

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Tags: Bob Sutton, employee fraud, employee theft, loss, surveillance, theft
Posted in Employment Standards, Human Resources, Internal Controls, Privacy and Security | 4 Comments »

Sleeping on the Job? What do you have to do to get fired in Canada, anyway?

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

Employees can be dismissed for cause, and therefore without notice or severance, when their misconduct or performance is so egregious that the employment relationship has been irreparably harmed. In assessing this issue, employers must adopt a contextual approach, which considers not only the misconduct in question, but the entirety of the employment relationship.

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Tags: canadian employment law, conduct and behaviour, discipline, Dismissal, employee conduct, employment law, HR issues, Human Resources, Labour Law, termination
Posted in Employment Standards, Human Resources | 2 Comments »

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