code of conduct

Supervisor circulated pornography, damaged employment relationship, terminated for cause

March 25, 2013 Adam Gorley Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, Health and Safety, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Human Rights, Training and Development, 0

When a workplace supervisor accessed pornographic, racist and other inappropriate material via a work computer and circulated it to employees and employer contacts, the employer had just cause to dismiss him. The employee claimed he was wrongfully dismissed, but the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench was not convinced and acceded to the employer’s request to dismiss the employee’s claim without trial.

abusing Internet access, Alberta, Business, code of conduct, computer use, confidential information, damaged employment relationship, discipline, discriminating and harassing, discrimination, email messages, employer conducted an investigation, employment law, employment relationship, five-day suspension, harassment, harassment policy, inappropriate material via a work computer, Internet, paid administrative suspension, policies, policies and procedures, safety workshop, supervisor, system usage policy, terminated for cause, termination of his employment, warning letters, workplace supervisor, wrongful dismissal, wrongfully dismissed

Update on the poor working conditions at Apple’s factories in China

September 21, 2012 Christina Catenacci Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, Health and Safety, Human Resources, Human Rights, Payroll, Union Relations, Wages and Compensation, 0

In a previous FR Talks post, we discussed alleged poor working conditions found at Apple Inc.’s factories in China. Since then, at the request of certain parties, the Fair Labour Association (FLA) got involved and proceeded to audit these factories which resulted in an investigation report in March, 2012 and a verification status report in August 2012, substantiating the claims of poor work conditions in said factories.

Apple, Audits, China labour laws, code of conduct, employment law, employment relationship, Fair Labour Association, Foxconn, hours of work, Labour Law, labour monitoring organizations, Poor working conditions, violation of labour laws

Can employers prevent workplace suicide?

June 11, 2010 Yosie Saint-Cyr Health and Safety, Human Resources

I was recently reading an issue of SafetyNewsAlert, which indicated that there were over 20 attempted suicides over one year in a single Chinese technology factory—one that manufactures products for Apple, including the iPad, among other things. Out of the 20 attempts, 9 suicides were successful within a period of five months. According to the article, questions are being raised about the sustainability of China’s manufacturing model, which relies on long hours from its workers. Typical workweeks include seven days of twelve hours.