Resources: Labour
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Successorship in Contract Retendering
June 15, 2022
In Everclean Facility Services Ltd., 2022 BCLRB 14 (“Everclean Facility Services”), the BC Labour Relations Board (the “Board”) considered a trade union’s application for leave and reconsideration of an earlier decision regarding successorship in a situation of contract retendering.
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Two Significant BC Labour Code Changes: Card Certification is Back & Open Season is Declared in the Construction Industry for Raiding Unions
April 7, 2022
On April 6, 2022, Bill 10 – 2022 Labour Relations Code Amendment Act, 2022 (“Bill 10”) received first reading. Once in effect, Bill 10 will cause two significant amendments to the BC Labour Relations Code (the “Code”). First, the Code will again allow for “card based” certification, the purpose of which is to allow easier access to unionization. Second, in the construction industry, raids will become easier through the elimination of the current three year waiting period.
The amendments are the latest in a series of changes since 2019 that have significantly altered the labour relations landscape in BC.
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Is This Thing On?: Surreptitious Recording Can Constitute Just Cause for Dismissal
March 17, 2022
Your employee places their cellphone on the table as they sit down for the meeting, angling it slightly towards you. You wonder – is this meeting being recorded?
The ubiquity of cellphones means that HR professionals should assume all conversations with employees are being recorded. But are there any consequences for employees who secretly record conversations with colleagues?
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Insolence, Insubordination and After-Acquired Evidence of Just Cause
March 11, 2022
On November 9, 2021, the B.C. Supreme Court released its decision in the case of Golob v. Fort St. John (City), 2021 BCSC 2192.
The case concerned a wrongful dismissal claim against the City of Fort St. John by its former Deputy Fire Chief.
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Clarification to Law of Employee Surveillance
March 2, 2022
Elevator law, according to one colleague and despite our best attempts to intervene, has its ups and downs. It has a unique set of characteristics, including its own elevator union (the International Union of Elevator Constructors (IUEC)), industry-specific collective agreements and a workforce of largely independent technicians.
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Taking Away Important Responsibilities for Misconduct: Arbitrator Substitutes Permanent Disciplinary Demotion for Discharge
February 18, 2022
When considering potential discipline for poor performance, a novel labour arbitration decision suggests a demotion – a permanent disciplinary demotion – may be an appropriate response.
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Labour Law in the Time of Cholera
February 7, 2022
2020 was full of surprises, and 2021 continued to bring new challenges for the profession. Our corner of toil in the legal vineyards was not immune. For labour and employment lawyers, 2021 at times felt like a treadmill of legislative change, workplace vaccination policies (do not call it a mandate unless employers are forcibly injecting employees…), and helping employers plan to keep their workplaces safe.
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Through the Looking Glass: 2022 BC Labour Law Forecast
February 3, 2022
It is the start of a new year and we are ready to look ahead. In B.C., we are anticipating some significant labour decisions in 2022, which could be consequential for unionized workplaces. Join us as we fall down the rabbit hole of Charter challenges and vaccination policies.
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No More Tolerance for Covert Discrimination
January 11, 2022
Cybulsky v. Hamilton Health Sciences, [2021] O.H.R.T.D. No. 209 (Letheren) is a boundary-pushing case that shows a growing intolerance for sex or gender discrimination in the workplace, including covert sex or gender discrimination.
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