Legal Ease
01 Feb, 2012
When employers and their former employees are trying to settle disputed issues arising out of a termination of employment, there are many monetary factors to address. Perhaps surprisingly, it isn’t always the money which is the stumbling block to reaching a settlement.
A very important aspect to any part of a settlement for a departing employee is receiving a reference letter. Often, the employee will insist on getting a reference letter and the employer will be reluctant to provide it.
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20 Dec, 2011
The range of policies which might be contained in an employee handbook is really unlimited. There are, however, certain core policies every employer should implement.
The list starts with a harassment policy. This policy sets out the employer’s stance forbidding workplace harassment (including sexual harassment and other forms, such as bullying). It should also provide a complaint resolution process and define the range of disciplinary measures which may be imposed on the offender.
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23 Nov, 2011
It’s that time of year when good boys and girls start looking ahead to receiving gifts and their parents anticipate the seasonal office party. Controlling alcohol consumption at those parties substantially increases the odds of parents, and their employer, having a happy and healthy holiday season.
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01 Nov, 2011
If you’re a person who wants to find information about another person, where better to start your search than online locations such as Facebook, Twitter, or any of two hundred or so other social media sites? And if you’re an employer who wants to find out about a candidate’s background, why wouldn’t you take advantage of the same online sources?
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26 May, 2011
In today’s workplace, many employers provide their staff with electronic devices with which to perform duties. From cellular telephones to laptop computers, these are now tools of the trade for many occupations.
Most employers would, I believe, assert that the technology they provide to their employees is the company’s property and is to be used strictly for work-related purposes. The reality of their employee’s use of the employer’s technology may be entirely different.
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12 Apr, 2011
Few things seem to stir the pot in B.C. as much as discussion about raising the minimum wage rate. Now, it’s much more than a discussion as B.C.’s new premier has instituted a graduated raise in the minimum wage from $8.00 per hour to $10.25.
I’ve read reviews of this long-awaited increase which variously describe it as “too much, too soon” and “too little, too late”. That shows just how polarized parts of the business community and the labour movement are on this topic.
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09 Mar, 2011
Can employers use social media in the recruitment process and not break the law?
Social media has changed the way companies source, recruit and select new employees. Not only does it offer another opportunity to connect with candidates, it gives access to personal information that was previously not available in the recruitment process. As an employer, what do you do with this information? There have been numerous articles on how candidates can manage their digital footprint, but what advice is there for employers to navigate these unchartered waters?
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It is a rare employer who is not aware of its employees’ entitlement to reasonable working notice of termination (or pay in lieu thereof). At the same time, it also seems to be a rare employer which has a full grasp of the other costs which can arise upon termination.
That is perhaps because most employees who are terminated (on a without cause basis) are owed little more than some pay in lieu of notice at the time of termination. A smaller category of employees has a range of other entitlements and these can be quite valuable.
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21 Dec, 2010
Seven in ten HR managers believed that employees are more likely to bring legal action against former employers than they were five years ago, and four out of five think the situation will worsen in the next five years. Most HR managers felt that the courts were more disposed to support the employee, a perception that prompts many companies to settle disputes out of court.
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16 Nov, 2010
While it would be foolish to ignore religion, gender, and age as potential grounds for discrimination complaints, employers are presently struggling on another front. So-called “family status” discrimination complaints seem to be the growth area in today’s human rights world.
British Columbia, along with other provincial and federal jurisdictions in Canada, prohibits employers from refusing to employ (or otherwise discriminating against) a person regarding employment because of the person’s “family status”. What the vague term, “family status”, means in the employment context is gradually becoming clearer.
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In BC, the Premier’s Council on Aging and Seniors’ Issues has recommended the abolishment of mandatory retirement. If put into effect, this recommendation would see the removal of the portions of the BC Human Rights Code preventing persons aged 65 or older from complaining of age discrimination.
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02 Dec, 2008
Followers of court decisions might be forgiven for thinking that large damage awards given by lower courts tend to be overturned by the courts of appeal. This is, in fact, often the case and perhaps that’s the way the system should work (lower courts stretching the boundaries of previous decisions and the higher courts stepping in when the limits have been stretched too far).
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Terms of employment established when an employee starts a job don’t always suit an employer’s later needs. Employers frequently want to change terms of employment.
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02 Dec, 2008
How much notice do employees legally need before you can lay them off? Although many people think two weeks is the legal standard, Canadian common law for employment outlines termination notice in detail.
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02 Dec, 2008
Wrongful dismissal cases often lead to debate over the legality of a severance formula set out in an employment contract. In most cases, the former employee argues the severance formula should be disregarded while the employer argues for keeping it.
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02 Dec, 2008
Restrictive covenants are often utilized by employers to govern the post-employment activities of key employees. The employer seeks to protect itself from damage imposed by former employees engaging in competitive business activities.
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The recent introduction of so-called privacy legislation is having a ripple effect on employers' human resources practices. One of these effects is the now frequent demand by employees to see the contents of their personnel file.
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29 May, 2007
The application form is an under-utilized tool for screening out undesirable applicants. Many employers treat it as a way to obtain contact information for the applicant and little more.
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02 Dec, 2008
Perhaps the best weapon in an employer’s arsenal to screen applicants is the probation period. In my experience, it is also one of the least used and least understood.
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02 Dec, 2008
The moment of offering employment is one of the most important in the employment relationship. It is also one of the most poorly utilized by employers.
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02 Dec, 2008
I suspect that most employers struggle, occasionally, with the question of whether an employee has resigned from employment. I know that I am often called on to provide advice on this subject.
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As surely as the sun will rise each day, employees will form personal relationships with co-workers. Some employers frown on such relationships and attempt to take preventative steps. The degree to which the employer can lawfully intervene to restrict such relationships, however, is limited.
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02 Dec, 2008
Your organization could wind up with a huge financial liability if you’ve mislabelled employees as contractors. Find out your legal obligations and the respective status of both groups.
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02 Dec, 2008
Hiring older workers seems to be part of an employer bandwagon. The shiny, new era of the elimination of mandatory retirement policies in British Columbia is but a few weeks old. That legal change seems to have come at an opportune moment for older workers.
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02 Dec, 2008
Restrictive covenants can be tricky. Most of the difficult issues in employment law have been ironed out by the courts. That is the inevitable effect of hundreds of decisions by judges every year touching on all aspects of the employment relationship.
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23 Feb, 2009
I’m not a fan of the phrase, “economic meltdown”. It’s an exaggeration of the negative aspects of the current economic climate and, in Chicken Little fashion, ignores all the positives.
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17 Mar, 2009
Samuel Culbert is a professor of management at the UCLA Anderson School of Management in Los Angeles. Culbert recently published an article in the Wall Street Journal entitled, “Get Rid of the Performance Review!”.
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21 May, 2009
In this period of economic decline, many employers are faced with the need to restructure their workforce. Unfortunately, imposing unilateral changes upon employees raises the risk of constructive dismissal claims.
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20 Jul, 2009
When it comes to the workplace, it’s fair to say the employer has the authority to take some liberties in monitoring the activities of employees. According to an Ontario judge, surreptitiously spying on a manager isn’t one of them.
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28 Aug, 2009
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board has reported that, at the time of a recent mid-air collision between an airplane and a helicopter, the air traffic controller was making a personal telephone call. The crash killed nine people and is an example of what can happen when an employee is engaged in personal business rather than focused on work duties.
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22 Sep, 2009
As surely as kids heading back to school and Christmas decorations appearing (too early) in stores, September brings annual projections of pay increases for the following year. These projections can – if used in a considered fashion - be a useful guideline as your business approaches its yearly pay review process.
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18 Dec, 2009
The recent Report Following a Public Interest Investigation respecting the death of Robert Dziekanski relied heavily on video evidence produced by a bystander. I’m thinking employers should get accustomed to facing such evidence of the actions of their staff.
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26 Jan, 2010
Now that we’re into the first January of a new decade, it’s as good a time as any to assess how we perform our jobs on a day-to-day basis. Human resources managers are no different, and here are my five suggestions of things they might consider trying in 2010.
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26 Apr, 2010
According a recent article by Randy Shore, published in the Vancouver Sun, the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) has implemented a policy banning consumption of alcohol by employees during the work day. Unfortunately for ICBC, its work day includes a lunch period for which employees are not paid.
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27 May, 2010
A waitress in North Carolina recently found herself looking for work after posting a complaint about customers on her Facebook page. This is just the latest example of the increasing impact of technology on the employment relationship.
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24 Aug, 2010
Our common law of wrongful dismissal establishes most employees’ entitlement to notice of termination (or pay in lieu) based, primarily, on the employee’s tenure. What some employers don’t know is that a court may regard that tenure as continuous through one or more breaks in service.
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