dishonesty

Balancing just cause for dismissal and accommodation

September 25, 2013 Rudner Law, Employment / HR Law & Mediation Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Human Rights, Notice, Damages and Settlements, Payroll

Ontario-auto-shop-employee-loses-job-over-Twitter-search-for-marijuana

Recently, a Mr. Lube employee tweeted a request for some marijuana to help him get through his shift. This may have gone unnoticed by the media, but it came to the attention of the York Regional Police, who used their Twitter account to respond by asking, “Can we come too?” Presumably, his employers were asking a different question: “Can we fire him?”

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Most-viewed articles this week on HRinfodesk

May 16, 2013 Yosie Saint-Cyr, LL.B. Managing Editor Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, Human Resources, Human Rights, Payroll, Pensions and Benefits, Source Deductions and Reporting, Wages and Compensation

The three most viewed articles on HRinfodesk this week deal with differential treatment in the workplace, how an employee’s dishonesty and breach of confidentiality during a workplace investigation led to termination for cause and how a settlement was easily characterized as a retiring allowance.

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Employers ask: what conduct by an employee constitutes cause for dismissal

November 28, 2012 Earl Altman Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, Human Resources, Payroll, Pensions and Benefits

I am frequently asked by employer clients to describe what type of conduct by an employee will be held by the courts to qualify as cause for dismissal. Employers are often frustrated by the answer they receive – that it seems that nothing less than stealing money from the company will suffice. In the case of long time employees without prior instances of misconduct, theft may still be insufficient. A recent decision of the Ontario Superior Court has fortunately clarified the circumstances in which courts will find cause for dismissal as a result of dishonesty. What is striking about the decision is the reliance of the judge on a seemingly insignificant act committed by a nineteen year employee.

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The law of just cause, revisited again

November 5, 2012 Matt Lalande, Lalande & Company Lawyers Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, Human Resources

A few months ago I provided a contribution to this blog concerning an update on the law of just cause. I am doing so again with today’s blog, not for the fact that I am really interested in the law of just cause, but rather, judicial decisions that supported the defendant’s termination for just cause are quite uncommon and the factual circumstances are always quite interesting, such as in the newly released decision of Mykki Cavic v. Costco Wholesale Canada Limited.

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Can an employer argue cause when discovered after dismissal?

April 25, 2012 Earl Altman Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, Human Resources

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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Relying on breach of policy to discipline employees

February 23, 2012 Yosie Saint-Cyr, LL.B. Managing Editor Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, HRMS, Human Resources, Training and Development

When an employer seeks to rely on a breach of policy in disciplining an employee, the employer must prove that it clearly communicated the policy to the employee in question and has enforced the policy consistently. The importance of such communication in enforcement of workplace policies was demonstrated in Lambe v. Irving Oil Ltd.

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A very expensive case of bad-faith termination and sick pay fraud

April 30, 2010 Christina Catenacci Employment/Labour Standards, Human Resources

I recently read an interesting case about sick pay fraud and bad-faith termination. After reading the employer’s version of what happened, I was pretty convinced…

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