First Reference Talks

And now an update on HST transitions!

Wednesday, October 5th, 2011

If you’ve been following the story of Quebec’s efforts to harmonize its sales tax (the QST) with the federal Goods and Services Tax, you probably know that it took a bit longer than expected, besides the 19 previous years of semi-harmonization during which nothing really happened. The federal government and the province originally set a deadline of September 15 to reach a deal, but they subsequently extended the period, and as of Friday, the deed is done—kind of.

Tags: British Columbia, Goods and Services Tax, GST, harmonization, harmonized sales tax, HST, QST, Quebec, Quebec Sales Tax, tax administration
Posted in Finance and Accounting, Internal Controls | Make a Comment »

Another case of school employee working in sex trade – this time, teacher did not lose job

Friday, September 9th, 2011

Remember the case where a Quebec school board terminated an office assistant because she was a porn video star on the side? She was terminated because her off-duty conduct was inconsistent with the school board’s mission and the values the board wished to convey to students. Well, here’s another case where a sex-ed teacher who also worked as a stripper and porn actor was allowed to keep teaching! What was the difference in this case?

Tags: allowed to keep teaching, British, discipline committee, inconsistent with values, make ends meet, off-duty conduct, office assistant, Quebec, school employee, second job, sex industry, suspension, terminated because of off-duty conduct
Posted in Employee Relations, Human Resources | Make a Comment »

IQT’s closure: A fine example of poor corporate values!

Thursday, July 28th, 2011

On July 15, 2011, several workers showed up to work as usual at IQT Solutions, only to be told that their employer had unexpectedly shut down its Canadian operations: three call centres, one in Ontario and two in Quebec. About 1,200 IQT employees were suddenly unemployed with no final paycheque, vacation pay or notice of termination.

Tags: bankruptcy, call centre, corporate governance, Corporate Values, employment law, employment standards act, Insolvency, IQT Solutions, labour standards act, Ministry of Labour, Notice of termination, ontario, Quebec, social media, termination, terminations, unpaid wages, vacation pay
Posted in Employment Standards, Finance and Accounting, Human Resources, Internal Controls | Make a Comment »

What’s that you say? Bar association releases plain language guide

Monday, July 4th, 2011

When a guide to using legal jargon in everyday life offers as its first tip, “Familiarize yourself with Latin”, I’m pretty sure there’s a problem.

Tags: accessibility, bar association, buzz words, Canadian Bar Association, complex language, FAPP, gobbledegook, HRA, HRPP, ITPP, jargon, langage clair, language, Latin, legal writing, legalese, nonsense, NPPP, plain language, Plain Language Association International, Quebec
Posted in Finance and Accounting, Internal Controls | 1 Comment »

June 24, Quebec St-Jean Baptiste Day/National Holiday

Friday, June 24th, 2011

In Quebec, June 24 is la Fête nationale, the province’s national holiday and celebration of French Canadian culture. All employees in Quebec are entitled to the holiday…

Tags: Act Respecting Labour Standards, Commission des Normes du Travail, employment law, Fete Nationale, National holiday, Public Holiday, Public Holiday Pay, Quebec, Religious holiday, St-Jean Baptiste Day, St. John the Baptist Day, statutory public holiday
Posted in Employment Standards, Human Resources | Make a Comment »

Moral damages: still an unsettled question

Wednesday, May 18th, 2011

A recent case out of the Quebec Superior Court Lysecky v. United Parcel Service of Canada Limited 2010 QCCS 5098 is indicative how the question of “moral damages” is still unsettled law.

Tags: bad faith during the termination, Civil law, common law, employment law, extension of the notice period, Fox v. Silver Sage Housing Corporation, Honda v. Keays, Lysecky v. United Parcel Service of Canada Limited, manner of dismissal, mental distress, moral damages, notice period, Quebec, Quebec Superior Court, Supreme Court of Canada, terminations, Wallace damages, Wallace v. United Grain Growers, wrongful dismissal
Posted in Employment Standards, Human Resources | Make a Comment »

Work-life balance incentives

Tuesday, April 19th, 2011

Quebec launches a work-life balance initiative that is said to be unique in all the world. Let’s hope it catches on in other provinces and territories.

Tags: child care, competitive labour market, daycare, duty to accommodate, employee retention, employment law, family-friendly workplaces, la norme Conciliation travail-famille, public and private sector employers, Quebec, work-family balance certification, work-life balance, Work-life balance incentives, work-life balance initiatives, work-life balance standard
Posted in Human Resources, Human Rights, Recruiting and Hiring | Make a Comment »

High school office assistant by day, porn video star by night – should there be ramifications?

Friday, April 1st, 2011

A Quebec school board has suspended a high school office assistant with pay after discovering she also happened to be a porn video star on the side. How did the school board find out about her extra-curricular activity? A student found out her secret and posted it on Facebook, and almost instantly, she was a high school celebrity.

Tags: Conduct and behaviour in the workplace, disicpline, employer's reputation, employment law, facebook, Internet, off-duty activities, off-duty blogging, off-duty conduct, porn video star, pornography, Quebec, social media in the workplace, suspension with pay, termination, termination with cause, using technology to damage reputation
Posted in Employment Standards, Human Resources, Privacy and Security | 1 Comment »

Eight out of ten workers witnessed conflicts in the workplace, so what?

Wednesday, March 9th, 2011

According to a recently released CROP survey carried out for the Ordre des conseillers en ressources humaines agréés (Quebec’s human resources professional association), 79 percent of workers in Quebec often or occasionally witnessed a conflict in their workplace in the last year. The survey also indicates that 62 percent of employees believe their managers are inclined to resolve conflicts, compared to 38 percent who feel they tend to ignore them.

Tags: communication, Conflict resolution, conflict resolution skills, CROP survey, disagreements and differences, education and training, employment law, impacts of workplace conflict, learning to manage conflict, Ordre des conseillers en ressources humaines agrees, policies and procedures, Quebec, sources of conflict in the workplace, when individuals disagree and conflicts arise in the workplace, workers witnessed conflicts in the workplace, workplace conflict, workplace harassment, workplace violence
Posted in Health and Safety, Human Resources, Human Rights, Training and Development | Make a Comment »

Slaw: CSST services and website available only in French

Thursday, December 23rd, 2010

The Office québécois de la langue française requires that all communications between the Commission de la Santé et de la Sécurité du Travail du Québec (CSST, Quebec’s workplace health and safety board) and employers, suppliers and partners take place in French only, to comply with…

Tags: Charter of the French Language, Commission de la Santé et de la Sécurité du Travail du Québec, CSST, Office québécois de la langue française, Quebec, Slaw, slaw.ca, workplace health and safety board
Posted in Health and Safety, Human Resources | Make a Comment »

Workplace violence and harassment training

Thursday, December 9th, 2010

I guess I’m lucky never to have experienced harassment at work and I certainly never expect to at my current job—unless you count some gentle ribbing at the annual croquet tournament. But nevertheless, First Reference recently had its first mandated workplace violence and harassment training session to educate me and my co-workers on the company’s new mandated policies.

Tags: canadian employment law, employment law, harassment prevention training, manitoba, occupational health and safety act, ontario, psychological harassment, Quebec, racism, Saskatchewan, workplace harassment, workplace harassment policy, workplace harassment prevention, workplace harassment prevention guide, Workplace Safety and Health Regulation, workplace violence
Posted in Health and Safety, Human Resources, Human Rights | Make a Comment »

Draft of new national securities act introduced

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

Earlier this year, we reported that Alberta and Quebec were preparing constitutional “references” to be heard by their respective provincial Courts of Appeal to defend their rights to maintain their own provincial securities regulators. At the same time, the federal government announced its intention to take its case for a national regulator to the Supreme Court…

Tags: Alberta, federal Securities Act, national regulator, national securities act, Quebec, securities, securities act, securities regulator
Posted in Finance and Accounting, Internal Controls | 1 Comment »

Slaw.ca: Can Quebec Bill 94 withstand any Charter challenge?

Friday, April 23rd, 2010

While Canada perceives it’s role as one of accommodating all forms of religious expression in a neutral manner, Quebec has decided to apply a more restrictive and formally secular approach. At a general level, this means the official separation of church and state. However, this proposed policy of secularity (bill 94) clashes with the religious traditions of many recent immigrants to Canada. To summarize, Bill 94 would require anyone providing or receiving government services to do so with their face uncovered for reasons of identification, security and communication. This includes services from hospitals, schools, universities, and daycare centres that receive provincial funding.

Read the full article on Slaw.ca.

Tags: Bill 94, burqa, discrimination, gender equality, human rights, kirpan, niqab, Quebec, reasonable accommodation, religious freedom, religious symbols, slaw.ca
Posted in Human Resources, Human Rights | Make a Comment »

Slaw.ca: Quebec government bill upholds gender equality and secularism

Wednesday, April 7th, 2010

On March 24, 2010, the Quebec government tabled in legislature Bill 94, An Act to establish guidelines governing accommodation requests within the administration and certain institutions. The Bill would create rules on how departments or agencies of the government can provide reasonable accommodation to citizens, certain organizations and public servants. These departments and agencies include health agencies, schools, colleges and universities, and services from child care to nursing homes. To this end, the Bill defines the concept of accommodation, asserts that the government will make any compromise to respect the right to equality between women and men and the principle of religious neutrality of the state, and provides that an accommodation cannot be granted if it imposes an undue hardship on the government department or agency. If enacted, the Bill would come into force on proclamation.

Premier Jean Charest and Justice Minister Kathleen Weil say the Bill upholds gender equality and secularism—the values that unite Quebecers. They said it, not me; but you’ve got to love it!

Read the full article on Slaw.ca.

Tags: Bill 94, discrimination, gender equality, Quebec, reasonable accommodation, slaw.ca
Posted in Human Resources, Human Rights | Make a Comment »