First Reference Talks

Yosie now writing for Slaw.ca

Monday, March 15th, 2010

This week at First Reference, we offered congratulations to Yosie for being selected to provide regular contributions to the Canadian law blog Slaw.ca, “a Canadian co-operative weblog about any and all things legal”. Now, besides her tireless efforts putting together the Human Resources Advisors, Human Resources PolicyPros, HRinfodesk and contributing to the First Reference blog, she will also offer her thoughts on employment law and related topics every Thursday on Slaw.

Tags: employment law, employment standards, HR issues, HRinfodesk, Human Resources Advisor, Human Resources PolicyPro, occupational health and safety, policies and procedures, slaw.ca
Posted in Accessibility Standards, Announcements, Human Resources, Payroll | Make a Comment »

When should damages for bad faith in dismissal be awarded?

Monday, December 7th, 2009

According to the Supreme Court, “The Damages Formerly Known As Wallace” (damages for bad faith in the course of dismissal) are to be compensatory rather than arbitrary extensions of the notice period. But what if the employer acted in bad faith, but the employee didn’t suffer any damages? What circumstances should justify an award?

Tags: canadian employment law, Dismissal, employment law, employment standards, HR issues, Human Resources, Labour Law, termination
Posted in Employment Standards, Human Resources | Make a Comment »

Employer holiday parties: some useful tips

Thursday, November 12th, 2009

However limited an organization’s party budget is, most of them still use the holiday season to show their employees their appreciation for their year-long efforts by holding a holiday party on or off company premises. In the last several years, however, many organizations have looked carefully at how they approach the annual holiday party, for legal and economical reasons.

Tags: Challenges in planning the holiday party, company sponsored event, drinking at a holiday party, employment standards, holiday party, HR issues, Human Resources, human right, liability for sexual and other types of harassment, occupational health and safety, planning the holiday party, religious accommodation, Responsibilities of employers during a company hosted party, The do's and don'ts of company-sponsored events, vicarious liability
Posted in Health and Safety, Human Resources, Human Rights | 1 Comment »

Tribunal awards $35,000 to fired pregnant employee

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

The Ontario Human Rights Tribunal recently awarded a woman $35,000 after her employer fired her when she revealed on her first day of work that she was four months pregnant. (The award covered $20,000 in lost wages and benefits, and $15,000 for injury to dignity, feelings and self-respect.) In addition to the damage award, given the overwhelming number of women working for the employer, the tribunal ordered the company to implement and distribute a written policy on the accommodation of pregnancy to ensure future compliance.

Tags: employment standards, feelings and self-respect, firing pregnant employee, HR issues, HR policy, Human Resources, human rights, injury to dignity, interview and human rights, maternity leave, ontario employment standards act, Ontario Human Rights Code, Ontario Human Rights Tribunal, parental leave, policy, policy manual, pregnancy, pregnancy and the workplace, terminating a pregnant employee, terminating an employee on maternity/parental leave, termination
Posted in Employment Standards, Human Resources, Human Rights | 3 Comments »

Social media = time management? (Part 3)

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

Connected employees are ambassadors for their employers. Some employers might find this frightening, but it is also inevitable. Some companies will worry about the message that their employees are spreading across their social networks and the Internet, and complain about their inability to control it; but others would pay good money for employees who are so engaged that they will work at all hours and act as corporate social media ambassadors at all times.

Tags: employment standards, facebook, Generation Y, IT controls, productivity, social media, social networking, web 2.0
Posted in Employee Relations, Human Resources, Privacy and Security | 1 Comment »

Social media = time management? (Part 2)

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

Social media are new, and their value is not entirely clear, especially to businesses that are doing just fine as they are, thank you very much. Heck, it’s even possible that blogs, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other Web 2.0 and social networking services will turn out to be passing fads, in which case, maybe companies that ignore them will have the last laugh on the matter. I don’t know about that, but I will say this: the generation that grew up on the Internet and began to enter the labour market over the last decade is unlikely to want to shift to a way of doing things that doesn’t involve the Internet and its associated applications and gadgets. And their children—well, who can say how connected they’ll be. It would take an extremely authoritarian approach to return to the workplace of our parents, and likely an approach that looks backward rather than ahead. But enough of prediction, let’s talk about some interesting stuff!

Tags: employment standards, facebook, Generation Y, hours of work, LinkedIn, productivity, social media, social networking, twitter, web 2.0
Posted in Employee Relations, Human Resources, Privacy and Security | Make a Comment »

Textual harassment: A new liability concern?

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

With this whole text-messaging explosion, a new epidemic called “textual harassment” has emerged. I recently read a couple of articles dealing with this new liability concern for employers: textual-sexual harassment. Of course this warning comes from the United States—according to a recent US Justice Department report to Congress, 23 percent of stalking or harassment is happening via text messages. The problem has become so large in the US that 46 states have anti-stalking laws that refer to electronic forms of communication. However… since US lawsuits that involve texting and harassing behaviours are increasing, Canadian employers should beware!

Tags: bullying, canadian employment law, common law, cyberbullying, cyberstalking, discrimination, employment law, employment standard, employment standards, harassment, HR issues, Human Resources, human rights, occupational health and safety, sexual harassment, social media, text messages, texting, textual harassment
Posted in Health and Safety, Human Resources, Human Rights | 2 Comments »

The four-day workweek

Monday, October 26th, 2009

The reality of today’s workplaces is that employees are stressed because they not only face excess work duties, but they work long hours, which keeps them away from their homes, families and leisure for long periods of time. According to many HR and legal experts, the results of overworked employees are distraction and low productivity in the company, forcing employers to demand even more hours from their employees, among other things. Everybody I talk to seems to think that the solution of a four-day workweek should enhance employee effectiveness and productivity, reduce stress, improve employees’ enjoyment of work, and balance their work/life.

Tags: canadian employment law, compressed workweek, employment law, employment standards, flex time, flexible schedule, flexible work arrangements, flexible work hours, four day work week, four day workweek, hours of work, HR issues, Human Resources, Labour Law, Labour standards, policies and procedures, policy
Posted in Employment Standards, Human Resources | 4 Comments »

Deadline looms for accessibility standards

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

Public sector organizations in the province of Ontario are working toward the January 1, 2010 deadline for implementing the first stage of compliance to ensure accessibility for Ontarians with disabilities in all areas of daily life. The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) outlines the new customer service standards businesses and other organizations in Ontario must attain to make the provision of their goods and services more accessible to people with disabilities. Private sector and non-profit organizations need to comply by January 1, 2012.

Tags: Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, Accessibility standards, AODA, Built environment standards, Customer service standards, Disability, employment standards, Information and Communications standards, Ontario Human Rights Code, Transportation standards
Posted in Accessibility Standards, Human Resources, Human Rights, Integrated Accessibility Regulation, Standard for Customer Service, Standard for Employment, Standard for Information and Communications, Standard for the Built Environment, Standard for Transportation | Make a Comment »

Providing reference letters: should you or shouldn’t you – or does it make a difference? Part I

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009

In the vast majority of cases, there is absolutely no reason for an employer not to provide a positive letter of reference for a dismissed employee. As discussed below, this conclusion is based upon two general points:

1) There is little or no risk in providing an honest, good faith reference;
2) Organizations can benefit financially if a dismissed employee finds new employment quickly.

Tags: canadian employment law, Dismissal, employment law, employment standards, HR, HR issues, Human Resources, policies and procedures, References
Posted in Employee Relations, Human Resources | 1 Comment »

Romance (sex) in the workplace – the Letterman case

Monday, October 5th, 2009

Last week, television talk show host David Letterman acknowledged on his program that he had sexual relationships with several female employees and that someone tried to extort money from him under the threat of making the relationships public. Letterman referred the matter to the police and the Manhattan district attorney’s office, and after an investigation, another employee of the Letterman’s broadcasting network, CBS, was arrested on attempted grand larceny. I don’t know about you but this is a great example of how romance (sex) in the workplace can go terribly wrong!

Tags: canadian employment law, employment law, employment standards, HR issues, Human Resources, human rights, policies and procedures, policy, romance in the workplace, sexual discrimination, sexual harassment
Posted in Human Resources, Human Rights | 4 Comments »

Introducing guest blogger Stuart Rudner

Monday, October 5th, 2009

It’s a pleasure to welcome Stuart Rudner as a guest blogger. He will be blogging about human resources, employment and labour law issues.

Tags: canadian employment law, employment law, employment standards, health and safety, HR issues, Human Resources, human rights, Labour Law, Miller Thomson LLP, occupational health and safety, ontario, ontario employment standards act, policies and procedures, policy, vicarious liability, workers compensation
Posted in Announcements | Make a Comment »

After hours access to work may lead to overtime claims

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

We’ve been hearing lately that in the United States employers are being held liable to employees for overtime compensation for using PDAs/BlackBerrys after hours for work and for checking work-related emails. We’ve been made aware of four such class action suits by employees that allege, among other claims, that the company provides them with BlackBerrys or other smart devices, and that they are required to review and respond to work-related emails and text messages at all hours of the day, amounting to 10 to 15 overtime hours per week.

Tags: Blackberrys, canadian employment law, cellphone use, class action suit, employment law, employment standards, hours of work, HR issues, Human Resources, Labour Law, overtime, PDAs, policies and procedures, policy, portable devices
Posted in Employment Standards, Human Resources | 6 Comments »

Introducing guest blogger Andrew Taillon

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

It’s a pleasure to welcome Andrew Taillon, a lawyer at Cox & Palmer, as our first guest blogger. He will be blogging about human resources, employment and labour related issues taking place in the Atlantic provinces.

Tags: canadian employment law, Cox and Palmer, employment law, employment standards, HR issues, Human Resources, Labour Law
Posted in Announcements | Make a Comment »