Friday, April 30th, 2010
I recently read an interesting case about sick pay fraud and bad-faith termination. After reading the employer’s version of what happened, I was pretty convinced…
Read the rest of this post »Thursday, April 29th, 2010
I recently read in HRmagazine.co.uk that 82 percent of survey respondents said they thought the Britain’s Got Talent and American Idol judge, Simon Cowelll, would be perfect for a career in human resources…
Read the rest of this post »Wednesday, April 28th, 2010
What exactly constitutes a “disability” under human rights legislation?
Read the rest of this post »Tuesday, April 27th, 2010
I recently read a couple of articles dealing with the relationship between not-for-profit organizations and the Canada Revenue Agency, particularly with respect to fraudulent charitable tax receipts and what non-profits can do about accidental profits.
Read the rest of this post »Monday, April 26th, 2010
I’ve discussed workplace gossip here before, and what bosses can do to prevent it or at least reduce the potential harm, but there are a couple of hyper-modern developments that I didn’t get into: reality television and the Internet. These two things have created a culture of “sharing”, for lack of a better word, that encourages people at play or work to divulge the most mundane and private details of their lives to others—the kind of information that one previously might only have shared with family or best friends.
Read the rest of this post »Friday, April 23rd, 2010
While Canada perceives it’s role as one of accommodating all forms of religious expression in a neutral manner, Quebec has decided to apply a more restrictive and formally secular approach. At a general level, this means the official separation of church and state. However, this proposed policy of secularity (bill 94) clashes with the religious traditions of many recent immigrants to Canada. To summarize, Bill 94 would require anyone providing or receiving government services to do so with their face uncovered for reasons of identification, security and communication. This includes services from hospitals, schools, universities, and daycare centres that receive provincial funding.
Read the full article on Slaw.ca.
Read the rest of this post »Thursday, April 22nd, 2010
We recently added another way that our readers can access content on the First Reference blog: we’ve optimized it for smartphones and some other portable devices. If you have a Blackberry Storm, an Apple iPhone or iPod Touch, a Palm Pre, an HTC Dream or Cupcake, or a Sanyo Incognito, or a phone that runs on Android or WebOS, you can experience our content in an easy-to-read and easy-to-access format that should load more quickly than ever.
Read the rest of this post »Wednesday, April 21st, 2010
Advancing a defence of failure to mitigate in a wrongful dismissal claim requires evidence that…
Read the rest of this post »Tuesday, April 20th, 2010
The Ontario Securities Commission has announced that it will undertake a review of corporate governance practices and environmental disclosure requirements in 2010, as part of a broader corporate sustainability reporting initiative.
What’s the significance of this announcement?
Read the rest of this post »Monday, April 19th, 2010
The Ministry of Labour has announced that the safety of young and new workers will be the focus of a four-month enforcement health and safety blitz across Ontario beginning in May 2010. According to the government, young and new workers in Ontario are four times more likely to be injured during the first month of employment than at any other time.
Read the rest of this post »Thursday, April 15th, 2010
Several media outlets have reported that Canada’s Parliamentary Budget Officer announced a sharp rise in employment insurance rate. This stems from the recently tabled report: Projecting Employment Insurance Premium Revenues and Expenses made available on April 15, 2010…
Read the rest of this post »Thursday, April 15th, 2010
The reliance on cellphones has led to an increase in talking on a cellphone while driving. Statistics show that driving while talking or texting on a cellphone is leading to driver distractions that cause car accidents. That’s why, on April 14, 2010, the Alberta government introduced…
Read the rest of this post »Wednesday, April 14th, 2010
I’m sure this news will come as a relief to many computer and Internet users out there: a recent study by a researcher at Microsoft has found that many IT security measures—those things we love to hate like having to change passwords every three months or having individual passwords for a dozen different work accounts—simply don’t provide good value for the time and effort they involve, not to mention the bad habits they often cause!
Read the rest of this post »Tuesday, April 13th, 2010
Employee fraud is on the rise, as organizations cut back on staff, and their internal controls slacken as a result. However, the monetary loss is just the beginning of the problem. A recent white paper from Grant Thornton LLP notes that, “Failure to crack down on this unethical—and indeed criminal—behaviour blurs the line between right and wrong. It creates a culture of entitlement that can extend across the business. And it can open the door to more significant corporate theft.”
Read the rest of this post »Monday, April 12th, 2010
Is it possible to terminate an employee who suffers from a disability and not commit a human rights violation? I recently read a case that made it clear that employers can do so when there is a justifiable reason to terminate not involving the disability, or after all efforts to accommodate the employee have been exhausted. But employers must be able to show this with evidence.
Read the rest of this post »
Andrew Taillon:
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