Resources: Health + Safety

  • Safety v. Privacy: Finding the Balance with Video Surveillance

    March 2019

    by Jacqueline D. Gant

    Arbitrator Ken Saunders’ recent decision in Lafarge Canada Inc. v. Teamsters, Local Union No. 213 (In-Cab Camera Grievance), [2018] B.C.C.A.A.A. No. 51 (Saunders) is instructive for employers considering the use of video surveillance in their workplace.

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    Safety v. Privacy: Finding the Balance with Video Surveillance
  • BC Court of Appeal Confirms High Standard for Mental Distress Damages

    January 2019

    by Julia Bell

    An employee who believes they have been wrongfully dismissed from their employment can seek damages in court for both the fact of their dismissal and the manner in which they were dismissed.  In Cottrill v. Utopia Day Spas and Salons Ltd., 2018 BCCA 383, the Court of Appeal affirmed that there remains a high threshold in British Columbia for plaintiffs seeking mental distress damages.

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    BC Court of Appeal Confirms High Standard for Mental Distress Damages
  • An Employer’s Duty to Provide a Discrimination-Free Workplace

    November 2018

    by Brandon Hillis

    A recent B.C. Human Rights Tribunal decision serves to remind employers of their duty to provide a discrimination-free workplace.

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    An Employer’s Duty to Provide a Discrimination-Free Workplace
  • Tailored Pre-Employment Testing Given the Green Light

    October 2018

    by Michael R. Kilgallin

    In BC Hydro and Power Authority -and- International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 258 (Arbitrator John Hall) (May 23, 2018), the employer implemented a pre-employment drug and alcohol testing requirement for new applicants applying for safety-sensitive positions under the hiring hall provision of the collective agreement.

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    Tailored Pre-Employment Testing Given the Green Light
  • Post-Incident Drug Testing Policies in the Age of Cannabis

    September 2018

    by Mike Hamata

    What do low speed collisions, marijuana, and post-incident drug testing have in common?  Those are the facts that were before the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench in Canadian Energy Workers’ Association v ATCO Electric Ltd, 2018 ABQB 258.

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    Post-Incident Drug Testing Policies in the Age of Cannabis
  • Failing a Breathalyzer Test in a Company Vehicle: Just Cause for Dismissal?

    June 2018

    by Jennifer S. Russell

    The B.C. Supreme Court recently determined in Klonteig v. District of West Kelowna, 2018 BCSC 124 that an assistant fire chief was wrongfully dismissed when his employer terminated his employment after he failed two breathalyzer tests while driving his employer’s vehicle.

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    Failing a Breathalyzer Test in a Company Vehicle: Just Cause for Dismissal?
  • Dealing With Employees Who Deny Unfitness To Work

    March 2018

    by Michael Wagner

    A roadmap for dealing with disabled employees who are unfit for active employment, but who deny being unfit, is detailed in Kelfor Industries Ltd. v. United Steelworkers, Local 2009 ([Grievor] Medical Leave and Termination Grievances) (November 21, 2017 – unreported at time of writing) (Lanyon).

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    Dealing With Employees Who Deny Unfitness To Work
  • A Crack in the Dam? Merrifield v. Attorney General (Ont.) and the Undead Tort of Harassment

    October 2017

    by Gavin Marshall

    For many years, workplace law has generally proceeded on the assumption that remedies for harassing behaviour and civil “harassment” were, except in rare cases, outside the purview of the courts. Harassment, as a civil wrong, had developed within the administrative structure of human rights tribunals and grievance processes under collective agreements but there was no generally recognized common law “tort” of harassment.

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    A Crack in the Dam? Merrifield v. Attorney General (Ont.) and the Undead Tort of Harassment
  • Justifying Random Drug and Alcohol Testing in the Workplace

    October 2017

    by Graeme McFarlane

    In a unanimous decision released Sept 28, 2017, the Alberta Court of Appeal (“ABCA”) upheld a judicial review decision which found that the majority of a grievance arbitration panel (“Majority Panel”) had improperly decided that Suncor’s random drug and alcohol testing policy was unenforceable.

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    Justifying Random Drug and Alcohol Testing in the Workplace
  • Right to Refuse Unsafe Work – Federal Developments

    March 2017

    by Gregory J. HeywoodJennifer Hogan

    In BC, a worker has a right to refuse work if he/she “has reasonable cause to believe that to do so would create an undue hazard to the health and safety of any person” pursuant to Section 3.12(1), of the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Regulations. There is no general definition of the term “danger” in the OHS Regulations.

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    Right to Refuse Unsafe Work – Federal Developments