Resources: Health + Safety
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Safety v. Privacy: Finding the Balance with Video Surveillance
March 2019
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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BC Court of Appeal Confirms High Standard for Mental Distress Damages
January 2019
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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An Employer’s Duty to Provide a Discrimination-Free Workplace
November 2018
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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Tailored Pre-Employment Testing Given the Green Light
October 2018
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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Post-Incident Drug Testing Policies in the Age of Cannabis
September 2018
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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Failing a Breathalyzer Test in a Company Vehicle: Just Cause for Dismissal?
June 2018
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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Dealing With Employees Who Deny Unfitness To Work
March 2018
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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A Crack in the Dam? Merrifield v. Attorney General (Ont.) and the Undead Tort of Harassment
October 2017
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
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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Right to Refuse Unsafe Work – Federal Developments
March 2017
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