Tuesday, May 1st, 2012
In Ontario, employers owe vacation pay on employee wages. Wages are defined in section 1 of the Employment Standards Act to include “any payment required to be made by an employer to an employee.” Here is where it gets tricky. In Ontario, the employment standards may require two separate types of payments to an employee who is terminated without cause.
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Monday, April 30th, 2012
A human resource person in one of the largest insurance company in the UK mistakenly fired 1,300 global employees in its investment unit by email. The email asked them to turn over their security credentials and company property on their way out and to remember their contractual obligation pertaining to confidential information. Oops! The email was only meant to go to one employee.
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Friday, April 27th, 2012
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice just decided that an employer terminated a 65-year-old long-term employee without the proper amount of notice or severance. As a result, the employer had to pay hefty damages, interest and costs award
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Thursday, April 26th, 2012
The privacy commissioners of Canada, Alberta and British Columbia have developed a guide to help organizations implement an effective privacy management program that meets private-sector privacy legislation and to provide consistent direction on what it means to be an accountable organization when dealing with individuals’ personal information…
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Thursday, April 26th, 2012
On April 25, 2012, the Federal government announced that it will appeal the Ontario Court of Appeal decision that struck down Canada’s prostitution laws as unconstitutional, specifically the Criminal Code provisions prohibiting “keeping or using a common bawdy house” and the “living off the avails of prostitution” provision…
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Wednesday, April 25th, 2012
An employer decides to dismiss an employee without notice and without legal cause. Subsequent to the dismissal, in reviewing the employee’s work, the employer discovers a number of errors which, if known at the time, would have been sufficient to support a dismissal for cause. Can the employer successfully argue cause in defence of a wrongful dismissal claim? This is a question I have been asked many times by employers, as a review of a dismissed employee’s work after dismissal often reveals significant errors or, in some cases, outright dishonesty.
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Tuesday, April 24th, 2012
Hockey players get paid to be hit. The reverse is also true; many hockey players are paid to hit. For hockey players, violence is part of the job. This job has clearly been taken up a notch this year for the playoffs. Even Sid “the Kid” was renamed “Vicious Sid” in a recent headline.
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Monday, April 23rd, 2012
Recently I sent an email in a medium-large font to someone who thought I was shouting. The reply I received was disturbing. The person was offended and read the information as if I was angry…
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Friday, April 20th, 2012
A mixture of incognizance and apathy often prevails in the private sector when it comes to understanding and applying legal privacy considerations in the installation and use of video cameras…
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Wednesday, April 18th, 2012
The best employers and proactive HR managers will go beyond just meeting the AODA training requirements. You can make the greatest impact for your employees and for your organization by using your AODA training as tool for increasing employee engagement. One way to do this is to carefully design and promote your organization’s AODA program as socially responsible corporate behaviour rather than simply as a compliance-driven reaction…
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Monday, April 16th, 2012
An interesting human rights case is making its way to the European Court of Human Rights, where the British government is set to defend the right of employers to ban employees from wearing the cross at work as it is not a “requirement” of the Christian faith.
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Friday, April 13th, 2012
Is there a law that says employers must prevent employee burnout? No, not really, but occupational health and safety legislation across Canada provides that an employer must take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances to protect a worker. That could include ensuring that an employee does not suffer from full blown burnout. When employers assist in this regard, they are also ensuring that their workplaces remain healthy and productive, and have higher morale.
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Wednesday, April 11th, 2012
Recently, the Canadian Human Rights Commission received inquiries and was made aware of media commentary about employers seeking to take advantage of the transition period to force older employees to retire before they are ready to.
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Tuesday, April 10th, 2012
You’ve probably heard by now that some employers in the United States have come up with the idea of asking prospective employees for their Facebook passwords so they can take a closer look at what these candidates are all about. Is it legal? Is it ethical? Is it fair?
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Monday, April 9th, 2012
We know that there is no precise method to determine the common-law period of reasonable notice when terminating employees. What has evolved and has been the most quoted case to help with this is the infamous Bardal vs. Globe and Mail. This case tells us that reasonable notice must be decided with reference to each specific case, considering the character of employment, length of service of the servant, the age of the servant and the availability of similar employment, having regard to the experience, training and qualifications of the servant.
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