employee communication

Theft is no reason to violate an employee’s rights

April 12, 2013 Adam Gorley Employee Relations, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Human Rights, Privacy and Security, Recruiting and Hiring, Union Relations, 0

Imagine you were working as a clerk in a grocery store, and your manager suspected you of stealing some product off the shelf. She has no concrete evidence, only hearsay from a co-worker. An investigation turns up nothing, and you continue working as though nothing had happened. But the manager notified your employer, and your employer added your name to a database of suspected employee thieves, which all sorts of retailers of all sizes subscribe to in order to avoid hiring persons of questionable character.

background check, coercion, collect use or disclose personal information, consent, Criminal Record Checks, databases, disclose personal information, discrimination, due process, employee communication, employee theft, employee theft database, employment law, innocent employees can be harmed, Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, PIPEDA, police record check, policies on employee theft, positive work environment, provincial privacy laws, reasons for employee theft, suspected thefts

Volunteering: a pleasure or a burden?

June 23, 2011 Adam Gorley Employee Relations, Human Resources

After I joined the board of directors at a not-for-profit arts organization, it didn’t take long for me to wonder how I’d balance my new obligations with the rest of my day-to-day life. I’d volunteered before, but only informally. Now I have regular responsibilities, mainly meetings and fundraising. I’ll probably invest 70 to 80 hours volunteering with the organization this year. It’s a worthy cause, but it’s also worthwhile to question the time commitment.