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Most-viewed articles this week on HRinfodesk

The three most viewed articles on HRinfodesk this week deal with the court calling into question the termination without notice of a probationary employee, how the law around references is changing and how a mistake in a contract led to constructive dismissal.

 

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The value of working from home questioned: Whether to implement flexible work arrangements or not?

The recent decision by Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer to ban working from home for “Yahoos” has been both widely criticised and applauded. The decision has been criticised for undermining the growing trend toward telecommuting and other flexible work arrangements which enable employees to better balance work/life challenges, especially important to women with children [...]

 

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Yahoo CEO tells employees: stop telecommuting

The news trending in the last couple of days is that Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer announced, in an internal memo, that the company will no longer allow telecommuting. As a result, Yahoo employees with work-from-home arrangements will be required to work out from a company office. The memo was leaked by a very irked employee and sparked debate on the pros and cons of working from home.

 

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How to avoid an overtime claim

So you have an employee who has been working with you for five years, and now you have to terminate the employee because it is just not working out. When parting ways, the employee insists that you should have been paying him overtime pay for all the years he has worked for you – and he wants to claim this alleged outstanding overtime pay, or he will be making a claim for unpaid wages with the Employment Standards Branch for unpaid overtime. How can employers avoid this and other types of overtime claim?

 

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What you should know about the Ontario Employment Standards Act

Most employers in Ontario are aware that the Employment Standards Act imposes standards on employers with respect to the treatment of employees. However, many are not aware that they are required to display a poster issued by the Ministry of Labour titled, “What You Should Know about the Employment Standards Act.” This poster, which can be downloaded from the ministry’s website, advises employees of their rights with respect to employment standards of hours of work, wages, public holidays and more…

 

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Denny’s temporary foreign workers employment standards class action suit gets certified

The British Columbia Supreme Court just certified a class action where the plaintiffs (foreign workers) allege that the employer failed to provide them with the amount of work promised, overtime pay and reimbursements for travel expenses and recruitment fees contrary to the Employment Standards Act. Also, the employees argued the employer breached the contract and its fiduciary duty, and was unjustly enriched for having the workers work without being paid. To top it off…

 

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CIBC investment advisors unpaid overtime class action not appropriate for certification

Another group of CIBC employees wanted to certify a proposed class action involving unpaid overtime, where the employees alleged that CIBC classified them wrongly as ineligible for overtime pay. The Ontario Superior Court of Justice decided that this action was not suitable for certification as a class action because there was no commonality between class members (it could not be decided on a common basis).

 

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Excessive overtime doubles depression risk

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?

 

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Employment standards update – Learn the latest

Historically, Ontario’s employment standards laws have been reviewed and updated frequently to address changes in the workplace. As expected, the provincial government has adopted various changes to employment standards in the last year or so. Understanding and following the Employment Standards Act requires that those affected by changes make the time to read about them and ask questions if something is unclear. In addition, it is your responsibility…

 

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Are our devices harming our health?

I’ve caved. The end of my phone contract has been looming large, and as I pondered my options, somehow I thought, “I’d really like to be more connected.” So I’m ditching my two-year-old, decidedly not smart, flip phone and getting an iPhone—and a data plan. Soon I’ll be able to tweet and update my Facebook status and share photos wherever I am. And I’m afraid.

 

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The season of stress?

What types of pressures you’re feeling this season—both at and away from work—and how do you deal with them? My coping method is to pray desperately for vacation (four days away!) and think about how great I’ll feel in the new year.

 

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Overtime rules can trap the unwary employer

In Ontario, the Employment Standards Act (ESA) requires employers to pay at least time and a half for all hours worked by an employee in excess of 44 per week. Employers who, for different reasons, fail to pay overtime pay have faced two types of claims by employees…

 

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Upcoming Ontario employment law related changes

On October 5, 2010, the Ontario government introduced Bill 110, the Good Government Act, 2010, an omnibus bill that, if passed, would amend various pieces of legislation, including the Employment Standards Act, the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act. The changes include general housekeeping measures, as well as some technical improvements and modernization measures. Specifically, regarding the employment law related changes, schedule 7 of Bill 110 makes the following key changes…

 

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Hours of work: What counts as ‘work’ in the Blackberry era?

I lifted that title from a presentation at the recent Davis LLP employment law update, because I don’t think I need to improve on it. The question seems simple, but I’m certain that it has got many employers and human resources departments wishing the handy devices had never been invented! (Okay, maybe not that confused.)

 

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After hours access to work may lead to overtime claims

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.

 

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