Tuesday, February 7th, 2012
A January 25, 2012, British research study indicates that people who work 11 or more hours a day have double the odds of becoming depressed compared with those who don’t work overtime. But why is this important for us as employers to know?
Read the rest of this post »Monday, February 6th, 2012
The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety has released an online tool to help organizations that handle chemicals comply with requirements under Canada’s WHMIS, the United States’ OSHA standard and the new Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals. If you’re keeping an eye on the GHS implementation, this might interest you…
Read the rest of this post »Thursday, January 26th, 2012
Last year I told you about the plan to release a voluntary national standard for mentally healthy workplaces. The standard aims to help Canadian employers support the psychological health and safety of their employees by providing them with the necessary guidelines and tools to achieve measurable improvements in psychological health and safety in the workplace.
Read the rest of this post »Wednesday, January 18th, 2012
In some cases, business leaders fail to recognize that employee travel falls within the physical scope of workplace activities. In other cases, decision-makers believe that only those travelling to international high-risk destinations require any type of security protection. In most organizations, there is also a gap in knowledge when it comes to travel security, contributing to a lack of risk awareness and fragmented ownership of the function within the organization.
Read the rest of this post »Friday, January 6th, 2012
The Ontario Ministry of Labour has recently proposed a new regulation under the Occupational Health and Safety Act that would prescribe certain functions of the Office of the Worker Adviser and the Office of the Employer Adviser in regard to worker complaints of reprisals by employers under section 50 of the Act. What does it really mean?
Read the rest of this post »Thursday, December 22nd, 2011
It’s the time of the year again when employers and payroll specialists have to start their T4 year-end process and need to know what’s new in payroll for 2012. In addition, several changes to pension, employment standards and other legal requirements are coming into force January 1, 2012. This blog post provides you with a brief summary of some of the changes employers need to know and prepare for:
Read the rest of this post »Friday, December 16th, 2011
When it comes to employee travel, the risk landscape is changing for Canadian employers. The nature and extent of security and safety risks faced by today’s business traveller are expanding, and conditions on the ground for international travellers are becoming more unpredictable. In parallel with these changes, we are witnessing a tidal wave of new occupational health and safety statutes and regulations aimed at preventing work-related violence, including recent examples in Ontario, Manitoba and Newfoundland.
Read the rest of this post »Wednesday, December 14th, 2011
January 1, 2012, is the date to complete all actions required under the Accessibility Standards for Customer Service and emergency preparedness requirements in the Integrated Accessibility Standards. The good news is, if your organization is obligated to report, you do not have to file with the government until December 31, 2012.
Read the rest of this post »Tuesday, November 29th, 2011
Under the Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulations of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), effective January 1, 2012, organizations in Ontario must provide and make available in an accessible format or with appropriate communication supports, information about emergency response plans or public safety to customers and employees with disabilities.
Read the rest of this post »Friday, November 18th, 2011
A hospital employee faced complaints of workplace harassment from co-workers, and the hospital imposed discipline on him, including a demotion. The employee’s union subsequently filed a grievance with the labour relations board. The hospital retained the services of an independent outside investigator who was also a practicing lawyer. When the union requested access to the investigation report, the hospital claimed solicitor-client privilege, and refused to hand it over…
Read the rest of this post »Thursday, November 3rd, 2011
Employers are often at a loss as to how to ensure employees who take sick days are really sick and not simply abusing the system. They are often scared to ask for doctor’s notes, but also scared that if they don’t, the abuse will become rampant. I often encourage employers to consider abandoning the notion of sick days altogether, and simply provide a fixed number of “personal days”, which eliminates the implicit or explicit requirement that an individual be sick in order to have time off.
Read the rest of this post »Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011
The cold and flu season is underway and typically runs from November to April each year. The often close quarters of workplaces allow employees to easily spread cold and flu germs. These germs are transferred from person to person and surface to surface indoors. Employers must take preventive measures to fight these germs around your workplace, keep your employees safe and maintain productivity throughout the peak cold and flu season.
Read the rest of this post »Friday, October 21st, 2011
The Ontario Labour Relations Board has provided what some believe to be the most significant legal interpretation yet of workplace harassment and employer reprisal in the context of the recently enacted Bill 168 amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA). The case, Conforti v. Investia Financial Services Inc., 2011, was decided on September 23, 2011.
Read the rest of this post »Tuesday, October 18th, 2011
Organizations that send employees to destinations with a high risk of kidnapping should seriously contemplate kidnap and ransom (K&R) insurance. K&R insurance protects individuals and corporations, typically covering kidnapping, extortion, wrongful detention and hijacking. K&R policies may also indemnify personal accident losses caused by kidnapping, and will generally cover the fees and expenses of crisis management consultants.
Read the rest of this post »Tuesday, October 11th, 2011
“Excessive claims of workplace harassment are a sign that our society has become far too sensitive and it really needs to stop.” This is the message I received from workshop participants this week during a group discussion on the topic of the prevention of workplace harassment and discrimination. But is it true?
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Leslie D Foreman:Andrew Taillon:
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