Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
By Donovan Plomp McCarthy Tetrault Does your Canadian business ask employees to sign releases in exchange for their severance packages? Imagine if an employee took the severance package, signed the release, then sued your company anyway. That’s exactly what Douglas L. Titus did to his former employer — and he won at the trial level. […]
by Kate McNeill of McCarthy Tetrault and Brian P. Smeenk formerly with McCarthy Tetrault Canada’s federal parliament has passed a law to protect workers when their employers become insolvent A key component of Bill C-12, passed December 14, 2007, is the creation of the Wage Earner Protection Program (WEPP). The WEPP provides statutory wage protection […]
by Daniel Pugen McCarthy Tetrault Ontario’s new Regulatory Modernization Act, 2007 may sound like a bland piece of regulatory updating, but it actually contains significant changes to regulatory enforcement processes, including those in the employment field. Passed by the Ontario legislature on May 17, 2007, and going into effect on January 17, 2008, this law […]
by Michael Ford McCarthy Tetrault A long-awaited ruling of the Alberta Court of Appeal clears up some questions related to preemployment drug and alcohol testing related to safety-sensitive positions. The case – Chiasson v. Kellogg Brown & Root issued December 28, 2007 – involved an admitted casual user of marijuana being terminated from his employment […]
by Daniel Pugen McCarthy Tetrault Biometric hand scanners vs. religious beliefs: What does the law say? In Canada, employers must accommodate their employees’ religious beliefs to the point of “undue hardship” for the employer. But what if you don’t consider an employee’s religious beliefs “mainstream”? That doesn’t matter, according to a recent decision by an […]
McCarthy Tetrault Q. When does an employer have an employment contract with its employees? A. Every employer in Canada has an employment contract, whether written or unwritten, with each of its nonunion employees. Sometimes, only some of the terms are in writing. When necessary, courts will imply reasonable terms in the absence of any express […]
Well, the strike of the writers’ union continues. I don’t do that much traditional labor work so I’ve asked my colleague, Jerry Coker, to help me out as he is the firm guru on all things traditional labor. He is also a huge fan of the show. Here is what Jerry had to say: Nothing too funny about a […]
McCarthy Tetrault Canadian discrimination laws, like those in the United States, generally require employers to make accommodations for employees with disabilities. By law, employers must accommodate to the point of “undue hardship,” but undue hardship is difficult to define and is assessed on a case-by-case basis. What happens when employee rights come up against your […]
Litigation Value: $3,000 – $ 5,000 (the amount that Dunder Mifflin will have to pay an attorney to write a brief supporting its motion to dismiss the case). The lesson from this episode is that, try as we might, there are some bad things that happen for which you can’t sue your employer. Or anyone […]
LITIGATION VALUE: Over $700,000 It would be pretty safe to say that any time a company’s regional manager asks a female employee to act out a lesbian love scene during its anti-harassment training you have problems. Expensive problems. Not only does the company face liability for Michael’s actions in contributing to the hostile working environment […]