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Archive for October, 2010

A recent survey on job attitudes

Friday, October 29th, 2010

I just read an interesting article that found only 44% were satisfied with their jobs, about 32% were somewhat satisfied and 24% were not very satisfied or not at all satisfied. That is a significant number of people (56%) who did not answer “very satisfied” about their jobs.

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Tags: Absenteeism, competitiveness, economic recovery, employee health, employee turnover, Forum Research Inc., improving job satisfaction, Job performance, job satisfaction, Manufacturing, organizational behaviour, productivity, rewards, supervisor feedback, supportive conditions, the economy, working conditions, workplace survey, workplace trends
Posted in Human Resources, Training and Development | Make a Comment »

Freaky AND functional – the robots are here!

Thursday, October 28th, 2010

When a robot is capable of multiple types of manual labour, is able to work twice as long as a human and will never complain about working conditions, many human workers have got something to worry about, even if that robot comes with a giant price tag. With no worries about harassment complaints, no fear of strikes, no backtalk and no vacation to worry about, many employers will look at independent robots as model employees.

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Tags: employment law, ethical issue of robots in the workplace, Future workplace, HR technology, labour issues, labour shortages, laws of robo, Laws of robotics, robots, Robots in the workplace, the future of work, unemployment, Workplace technology
Posted in Employment Standards, Human Resources | 2 Comments »

Entering Canada as a business visitor

Wednesday, October 27th, 2010

HR professionals are frequently asked whether a foreign national, who seeks to enter Canada in order to perform a specific task on behalf of their company, will require a work permit. If the proposed activity falls within the parameters of the business visitor category, no work permit will be necessary.

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Tags: business visitor, business visitor category, canadian employment law, Canadian labour market, definition of "work", employment law, foreign national, Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, work permit
Posted in Corporate Immigration, Human Resources | Make a Comment »

General employment, health and safety information is not legal advice

Tuesday, October 26th, 2010

I recently received feedback from a reader stating “I checked with the Ministry of Labour and you don’t need two separate policies to meet your workplace violence and harassment obligations. Your information is wrong.” Always question information you read or are given, double check it, triple check it and then make up your own mind about how you are going to proceed. However, it does not make the information in itself wrong.

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Tags: Bill 168, canadian employment law, employment law, feedback, harassment, legal advice, occupational health and safety, occupational health and safety act, OHSA, online information, policies and procedures, reference manual, workplace harassment, workplace violence
Posted in Health and Safety, Human Resources | Make a Comment »

Will poor management decisions mean the end for American Apparel?

Monday, October 25th, 2010

You’ve probably heard of American Apparel, the Los Angeles-based clothing manufacturer and retailer that’s so popular with the kids these days, they of the semi-controversial billboard advertisements and almost-certainly-controversial CEO Dov Charney…

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Tags: American Apparel, bankruptcy, business ethics, canadian employment law, clothing manufacturer and retailer, controversy, discrimination, employment law, FAPP, Finance and Accounting PolicyPro, governance, Jezebel, Made in USA, management, sweatshop
Posted in Employee Relations, Human Resources | 2 Comments »

The underrepresentation of women in the workplace

Friday, October 22nd, 2010

I just read an interesting report about women in the workplace. Essentially, the report suggests that women remain underrepresented relative to their male counterparts, even though they form a highly educated and skilled labour pool in the market. Given the skills shortage that is expected to occur in the near future due to mass retirements of senior baby boomer workers, this is an unsettling finding. But why is this happening?

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Tags: childbearing, education, financial penalty, gender equality, gender wage gap, highly educated and skilled labour pool in the market, labour force intermittency, maternity leave, motherhood, pay equity, pregnancy, report, skills shortage, underrepresentation, unexplained gap, wage gap, wage penalties, women, women in the workplace, workplace
Posted in Human Resources, Recruiting and Hiring | 5 Comments »

CIC announces new bar-coded temporary resident visa application form

Thursday, October 21st, 2010

Effective October 14, 2010, a new Application for Temporary Resident Visa Made Outside of Canada [IMM 5257] form and related forms will be made available to all clients. This new form will be accessed electronically and applicants will be able to save their partially completed form. Once completed, the final form will contain bar codes that will facitate data entry into Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s new Global Case Management System.

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Tags: Application Form for a Temporary Resident Visa, Bar codes, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Global Case Management System, Immigration Law, Temporary Resident Visa
Posted in Corporate Immigration, Human Resources | Make a Comment »

Drug and alcohol testing again

Wednesday, October 20th, 2010

I recently had the pleasure of speaking at the 2010 National Construction Labour Relations Alliance Labour Relations Conference. I participated in a panel that provided an update on drug and alcohol policies.

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Tags: alcohol and drug policy, breathalyser, canadian employment law, drug and alcohol testing, employment law, impairment at the worksite
Posted in Health and Safety, Human Resources, Human Rights | Make a Comment »

Loss of benefits under employer-provided pension plans

Tuesday, October 19th, 2010

Much has been written about our aging workforce and the implication for employers of the coming tide of retirements. The premiers and Prime Minister recently met to attempt to deal with those workers who do not have company pension plans by enhancing the benefits available under the Canada Pension plan, unfortunately without success. Clearly, retirement planning and the funding for that retirement are hot issues.

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Tags: canada pension plan, canadian employment law, compensated for the loss of salary and benefits, diminution in pension benefits, employer-provided pension plans, employment law, Loss of benefits, pension plans, period of notice, quantifying the loss benefits, retirement, retirement benefits, retirement planning, retiring worker, wrongful dismissal litigation
Posted in Benefits, Employment Standards, Human Resources, Payroll | Make a Comment »

Women in the workplace Part II: why is Canada lagging in wage gap ranking?

Friday, October 15th, 2010

I have been reading some interesting articles recently regarding women in the workplace. A recent report put Canada at number 20 in a global measure of equality between men and women. Canada was actually rated number 33 in the world concerning earned income gaps. Why is this still happening?

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Tags: Canada, earned income gaps, education and experience, equality between men and women, labour force intermittency, managment, maternity leave, motherhood and workforce attitudes, pay equity, professionals, salary, skills, support and encourage women in business, wage gap, wage gap ranking, Women executives, women in the workplace, Work hours, Workplace discrimination
Posted in Compensation, Employment Standards, Human Resources, Human Rights, Payroll | Make a Comment »

Health and safety related criminal charges laid in scaffold deaths

Wednesday, October 13th, 2010

The Toronto Star recently reported that Vadim Kazenelson, 35, of Gormley, Joel Swartz, 51, of Toronto, Benny Saigh, 52 of Toronto, and Metron Construction Corporation have each been charged with criminal negligence causing bodily harm, and four counts of criminal negligence causing death for workplace fatalities. The charges carry…

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Tags: Bill C-45, British Columbia, canadian employment law, criminal charges, criminal code, criminal negligence causing bodily harm, criminal negligence causing death, Due diligence, employment law, occupational health and safety act, ontario, workplace fatalities
Posted in Health and Safety, Human Resources | 3 Comments »

Upcoming Ontario employment law related changes

Wednesday, October 13th, 2010

On October 5, 2010, the Ontario government introduced Bill 110, the Good Government Act, 2010, an omnibus bill that, if passed, would amend various pieces of legislation, including the Employment Standards Act, the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act. The changes include general housekeeping measures, as well as some technical improvements and modernization measures. Specifically, regarding the employment law related changes, schedule 7 of Bill 110 makes the following key changes…

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Tags: accident reporting, Bill 110, canadian employment law, compensation for non-economic loss benefit, disclosure, employment law, employment standards act, Good Government Act, hazardous substances, loss of retirement income, material safety data sheets, MSDS, occupational health and safety act, omnibus bill, ontario, overtime, safety data sheets, work week, workplace injury report, Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, workweek
Posted in Employment Standards, Health and Safety, Human Resources | Make a Comment »

Workplace violence in self-defence: what does the law say?

Tuesday, October 12th, 2010

Although some readers believe that any kind of workplace violence is inappropriate, there was a consensus that acting within reason to protect yourself is okay—nobody should be expected to “stand there and take a beating”.

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Tags: Bill 168, canadian employment law, employment law, Harassment and violence training, occupational health and safety, occupational health and safety act, OHSA, ontario, policies and procedures, self-defence, training, workplace harassment and violence policies and program, workplace violence, workplace violence and self-defence, workplace violence in self-defence, workplace violence workshop
Posted in Health and Safety, Human Resources | 3 Comments »

Thanksgiving day – public holiday

Friday, October 8th, 2010

Thanksgiving is a public (statutory) holiday in all provinces and territories, except for the Atlantic provinces. Employees get a day off with regular pay or public holiday pay (depending on the province or territory of employment). If the employee is required to work on the holiday, the employee must be paid regular wages and get a substituted day off with pay at a later date (depending on the province or territory of employment). In the Atlantic provinces, retail business holidays legislation requires certain retail businesses to close on Thanksgiving day.

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Tags: canadian employment law, employment law, holiday, public holidays, statutory holidays, Thanksgiving Day, working on a public holiday
Posted in Employment Standards, Human Resources | Make a Comment »

OHS compliance orders issued against metal company where employee crushed his arm

Friday, October 8th, 2010

I recently read an article about how the Nova Scotia Department of Labour issued seven compliance orders against a metal works company in the province after a 24-year-old worker was seriously hurt.

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Tags: accident, canadian employment law, compliance orders, Department of Labour, employment law, metal company, Nova Scotia Department of Labour, Nova Socita, occupational health and safety, OH&S, workplace accidents, workplace injury, workplace investigations, young and new workers
Posted in Health and Safety, Human Resources | Make a Comment »