Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
by Dennis J. Merley The “will he or won’t he” retirement saga of Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre has been a source of speculation and a modest degree of amusement in the sports world. His more recent “did he or didn’t he” events, however, raise serious issues that HR professionals and employment lawyers know all […]
by Wendi Watts One by one, we watched miracle after miracle happen as each miner was rescued from deep underground in Chile. Only the coldest of hearts wasn’t overwhelmed with emotion while watching these men step into daylight and enjoy extended hugs in tearful reunions with their loved ones. As each man surfaced and was […]
By Ida Martin This December, the Supreme Court of Canada is set to hear a case involving the issue of whether the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has the authority to grant legal costs to a successful complainant. In an area of law where legal costs often dwarf the actual amount of any award, the Supreme […]
Litigation Value: A jug of wine, and thou. Unless the bottle nicked by Michael Scott (and shared with some of his coworkers) contained a vintage beyond the norm for community theater events, we could limit our legal discussion to petty theft. But how instructive — or fun — would that be? With the most recent […]
We all know that an employee need not specifically state that she requires a leave of absence under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). What we don’t know is how much (or how little) an employee has to say in a particular situation to put the employer on notice that she is seeking FMLA […]
by Emilie Paquin-Holmested and Dominique Monet The Supreme Court of Canada, in Québec (Procureur général) c. Syndicat de la fonction publique, recently struck down a clause in a collective agreement. The clause in question prevented certain employees from challenging discipline through grievance arbitration. The Court declared the clause void because it contravened a statutory minimum […]
Litigation Value: No liability to Dunder Mifflin/Sabre, but plenty of room for improvement in behavior, as always. In the second week of Season 7 of The Office, Sabre miraculously escaped without an obvious lawsuit. For this shocking development, I’m inclined to credit the fact that Michael Scott spent most of the episode locked in the […]
by Kara E. Shea I recently participated in hosting a Wage and Hour Virtual Summit webinar. Wage and hour compliance — overtime, work-time issues, exempt status — is always a lively topic and typically results in lots of questions and feedback. This time around, most of the feedback surrounded remarks I made about individual liability […]
By Stephen Acker and Joel Henderson Four years ago in Ottawa, the Federal Canadian Government nipped a nascent spending scandal in the bud when it fired two employees of the Canadian Department of Public Works, Douglas Tipple and David Rotor. Tipple successfully grieved his termination before the Public Service Labour Relations Board, winning the largest […]
Litigation Value: Not much; yet. Kicking off Season 7, tonight’s premiere teaches us a valuable lesson — the perils of nepotism in the workplace. Nepotism in its simplest form is “favoritism” toward relatives, without regard to merit. Michael Scott’s misguided decision to employ his jackwagon of a nephew, Luke, as an office assistant illustrated nearly […]