Thoughts from a Management Lawyer: Labor & Employment Law

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Labor & Employment Law

Thoughts from a Management Lawyer

Commentary and discussion of current and topical Canadian labour and employment law issues by a management-side labour and employment lawyer.

Post Frequency: 1.2/day

Last Entry: March 31, 2011 at 20:36:49

Forced to Into Self-Employment?

Posted on May 15, 2009
I have previously written about the April 2009 Labour Force Survey. According to the CLC, "many Canadian workers were forced to turn to self-employment in April 2009 as a means of surviving the economic crisis". They have done so because they "can't find jobs or get Employment Insurance"...

Expectation of Privacy and the Work Computer

Posted on May 13, 2009
Does an employee have a reasonable expectation of privacy in data stored on the work computer? I recently touched on this in a presentation at the Osgoode Professional Development seminar Employment Law 2009 Proactively Managing Legal Risk in Challenging Times Employment Law where I spoke about Effectively Managing the Use...

A "Cone of Silence" in the Office

Posted on May 11, 2009
Do you remember Maxwell Smart of Get Smart fame? The cone of silence? There were no secret conversations. Times have changed and the New Scientist reports that now the 'Cone of silence' keeps conversations secret. According to the article: "In increasingly common open-plan offices, the violation of employees' privacy can...

Going It Alone in Recessionary Times?

Posted on May 10, 2009
The April Labour Market Survey noted that "Employment grew by 36,000 in April, the result of an increase in self-employment" and I just saw in the Globe an article about how many terminated or laid-off employees have turned their backs on the corporate world in favour of taking their destinies...

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Bill 139 Receives Royal Assent

Posted on May 09, 2009
I have mentioned a number of time the Ontario Liberal governments commitment to protecting temporary agency workers and more recently here. Bill 139 has now received Royal Assent. I saw that this is not an issue that is unique to this country. It is currently under review in the U...

Unemployment Rate at 8%

Posted on May 08, 2009
The April 2009 Labour Force Survey is out and it's like watching a train wreck - you know it's coming but you can't turn away. According to the Survey: Employment grew by 36,000 in April, the result of an increase in self-employment. Despite this increase, overall employment has fallen by...

Don't Forget About Issue Estoppel

Posted on May 08, 2009
Today employees sometimes seek redress of their employment claims in many different forums at the same time - the courts, before administrative agencies such as under human rights legislation, and at arbitration. This has generated much discussion about the risks of fighting employment claims on many fronts...

Hiring in the Midst of a Recession

Posted on May 07, 2009
Some weeks ago, I had a post about In the Midst of the Gloom and Doom.... A Good News Story. Workplace Prof Blog writes about recessionary hiring and a New York Times article Bright Spot in Downturn: New Hiring Is Robust: But not everyone knows the brighter side to the...

Upcoming Presentations

Posted on May 06, 2009
The speaking schedule has been pretty busy of late. I spoke on May 4 with my partner Denise Bambrough at the Association of Certified Forensic Investigator's (?ACFI?) 11th Annual Fraud Conference on Your Right to Investigate. I will be speaking with my colleague Kate Zavitz on June 16 in London...

Temporary Help Workers Get Protection in Ontario

Posted on May 05, 2009
The McGuinty government has passed the Employment Standards Amendment Act (Temporary Help Agencies), 2009 (note: this is the second reading version) that will come into effect in 6 months. The purpose of the Act is to: Making sure that they are not unfairly prevented from accessing permanent jobs when employers...

Liberals will "push hard" for a lower EI threshold

Posted on May 04, 2009
Michael Ignatieff, the newly confirmed leader of the federal Liberal party, announced at a news conference that his party would, in the short term, "push hard for a temporary loosening of rules to provide EI benefits for anyone who has worked at least 360 hours in the previous year...

Employers aren't embracing social networks

Posted on May 03, 2009
That's according to a recent survey (an online poll conducted in February 2009 with 709 respondents) conducted by Sophos. Among other findings, the survey revealed that "63 per cent of system administrators worry that employees share too much personal information via their social networking profiles, putting their corporate infrastructure -...

Another Day Another Blog Anniversary

Posted on May 02, 2009
I just realized as I was writing that last entry that this blog had its 6th blog anniversary on May 1. It's hard to believe how quickly time passes when you're doing something that you enjoy. I still remember writing the first post and panicking as I hit the post...

CAW Members Ratify Chrysler Deal

Posted on April 27, 2009
CAW members have, by a vote of 87%, agreed to ratify a restructuring agreement with Chrysler that will see them, among other things, pay into their own pensions. The United Auto Workers in the US reached a tentative deal with Chrysler on Sunday which is expected to be put to...

April 28 is National Day of Mourning

Posted on April 26, 2009
In 1984 the Canadian Labour Congress established April 28 as the Day of Mourning for workers killed or injured on the job. In 1990, Parliament passed the Workers Mourning Day Act to formally recognize April 28 as a "day of mourning" across Canada. There is a brochure and list of...

Chrysler Reaches Deal With the CAW

Posted on April 25, 2009
Chrysler and the CAW have broken with pattern bargaining and have struck a tentative deal "for deep worker concessions" to help the auto maker. The Globe reports (as do many others others) that: The Canadian Auto Workers union has surrendered years of hard-won gains to keep the operations of Chrysler...

Driving to Distraction? Not in Ontario

Posted on April 24, 2009
On April 23 the Ontario legislature passed a bill (Bill 118) prohibiting anyone from "holding or using a hand-held wireless communication device or other prescribed device that is capable of receiving or transmitting telephone communications, electronic data, mail or text messages...

More on Governmental Pension Guarantees

Posted on April 18, 2009
A few days ago I posted about the CAW's concerns about the Ontario government's announcement that they would not allow the Pension Benefits Guarantee Fund to operate at a deficit. Fast forward, and now the Montreal Gazette has an article Are our pensions safe? Union asks Ottawa for guarantee not...

Work is not good for continuing education

Posted on April 16, 2009
A study to be released shortly by the Canadian Millennium Scholarship Foundation and discussed in Work increases risk of dropping out warns that: ..... balancing higher education and work is a tricky business, with every extra hour students spend on the job each week reducing the likelihood that they will...

Are you going to the pink slip party?

Posted on April 14, 2009
What's a pink slip party you ask? The Globe has an article and there will be some live blogging from the event and an online discussion on Wednesday. Also, check out pinkslipparty.ca and pinkslipparty.com and find out more. There's even video from the CBC...

Airport Employee Security Checks

Posted on April 14, 2009
Subject to human rights legislation and obtaining suitable consents, conducting pre-hire criminal background checks is common in Canada. However, according to a Globe and Mail article effective immediately, "baggage handlers, caterers and other airport workers will not merely undergo standard criminal background checks through CPIC, the Canadian Police Information Centre,...

Blawg Review #207 is Out

Posted on April 13, 2009
My friend Jordan Furlong has posted the most recent installment of Blawg Review on his excellent Law21 blog. If your not familiar with Blawg Review, please check it out. Jordan reminds us that Blawg Review made its debut some 4 years ago, which seems like an eternity ago.

Adjournment of Arbitration when Criminal Case is Pending

Posted on April 12, 2009
Where an employee is terminated or disciplined as a result of certain alleged conduct and criminal charges are pending and arise out of the same alleged conduct, the Union and the grievor will often be faced with a situation where they will be at arbitration on the discipline before the...

Is there a legal obligation to protect pensions?

Posted on April 10, 2009
Yes, according to the Canadian Auto Workers union and they aren't at all impressed by the Ontario government's announcement that they would not allow the Pension Benefits Guarantee Fund to operate at a deficit. The Fund provides pensioners with up to $1,000 a month in the event a pension plan...

First Collective Agreement at Wal-Mart in St-Hyacinthe

Posted on April 09, 2009
The New York Times, among others, reports that an arbitrator has arrived at a collective agreement that will apply to certain employees at a Wal-Mart store in St.-Hyacinthe. Opinions are mixed (see the Financial Post piece and the UFCW's Media Release).

Fortune's Top 100 Employers List

Posted on March 17, 2009
Fortune Magazine has released it's 2009 List of the 100 Best Companies to Work For and some of them are hiring! Among the many interesting comments that caught my eye was: The tough economy took a toll on many corporations and these are no exception. Many told us about layoffs,...

Facebook and Employment Law

Posted on March 14, 2009
I'm a little late to the party, but I heard the news this morning of a recent Ontario case in which it was held that the plaintiff who was in a car accident and sued falleging that "his enjoyment of life has been lessened and the accident caused limitations to...

Re-Qualification for Disability Benefits

Posted on March 13, 2009
The Ontario Divisional Court recently held in the case of The Ottawa Hospital v. OPSEU Local 464 that a collective agreement provision: "... discriminates against a worker with a partial disability, at least to the following extent: a worker who has returned to work part-time after using the short term...

Ok, Back to Reality

Posted on March 13, 2009
After a brief "good news story" we're back to reality. The February 2009 Labour Force Survey is out and it's, again, not pretty. January was awful and the February numbers show an increase in the unemployment rate rises to 7.7% on 82,000 job loses. The Globe also has an article...

In the Midst of the Gloom and Doom.... A Good News Story

Posted on March 12, 2009
With all the talk of bailouts, concessions, layoffs and cuts it's not surprising that people are in turmoil and questioning their own security. However, in the midst of all that, comes a story that Waterloo's own Research in Motion ("RIM") is bucking the trend and hiring...

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