Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
By Julia Kennedy and Sean McGurran Bullying isn’t just a problem on the playground anymore. Eventually the bullies grow up and get jobs. Now Canadian employers are seeing more laws dealing with harassment in the workplace. As an example in June 2010, Ontario’s Violence and Harassment in the Workplace law came into effect. It requires […]
By Chris Semerjian The Quebec Superior Court recently upheld an arbitration award against Wal-Mart regarding the closure of its store in the town of Jonquière in 2005. That closure is now also affecting Wal-Mart elsewhere in Canada. The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal recently indicated that Wal-Mart’s actions in Quebec possibly could be perceived as an […]
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 […]
It has been just over a year since the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) issued its decision in Keays v. Honda Canada Inc. (Read our analysis of the court’s decision in that case). That decision mandated a change in Canadian courts’ approach to awarding damages in employment cases. Damages for bad faith conduct by the […]
What should an arbitrator do when a fired employee is too bad to be reinstated, but dismissal was for one reason or another unjustified? Surprisingly, for Canadian arbitrators the answer seems increasingly to be: “Give ‘em a big payout.” They are increasingly awarding these unsalvageable employees bigger awards than good employees would get in a […]