Resources
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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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Law Professor’s Human Rights Complaint Against University of British Columbia Dismissed
February 2018
More than a year after the merits of Ms. McCue’s complaint were heard, the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal (the “Tribunal”) has dismissed this case in its entirety. The 300+ page decision contains important discussion about various topics including the Tribunal’s jurisdiction, prima facie discrimination, workplace accommodation, cultural obligations, complainant obligations, and the duty to inquire.
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Careful About Aiming Too High And Asking For Too Much
February 2018
After reorganizing a business, employers must take care that the terms of settlement and new employment they offer to their employees do not provide a basis for a dismissed employee to reasonably refuse to take the position in order to mitigate damages for wrongful dismissal.
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Are Your Bullying and Harassment Policies and Procedures in Good Shape?
February 2018
It seems like every day a new story surfaces about allegations of sexual harassment against Hollywood elites and other celebrities. Each time, the online world erupts and anyone with a computer can have their say. Reputations can be destroyed in hours.
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Alberta Court Of Appeal Confirms And Clarifies Requirements For Random Drug Testing
January 2018
This article focuses on the Alberta Court of Appeal’s recent decision in Suncor Energy Inc. v. Unifor, Local 707A, 2017 ABCA 313. The Court unanimously upheld a judicial review decision rejecting the majority decision of an arbitration panel which had found Suncor Energy Inc.’s random drug and alcohol testing policy to be unenforceable.
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The Need To Notify: Evidence Ruled Inadmissible Due To Privacy Violation
January 2018
The importance of providing notice to employees prior to collecting and using employee personal information is highlighted in Zelstoff Celgar Ltd. v. Public and Private Workers of Canada, Local 1 (Negreiff Grievance), [2017] B.C.C.A.A.A. No. 28 (Blasina).
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Settling Human Rights Complaints – What Not To Do
January 2018
When an employee makes a human rights complaint to the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal, the employee and the employer are permitted and even encouraged to settle such complaints. In some cases, complainants may agree to a settlement and then pursue the complaint anyway. In these circumstances, the Tribunal retains jurisdiction to hear the complaint if it determines that it would further the purposes of the B.C. Human Rights Code to do so. Such was the case in The Employee v. The Company and the Owner, 2017 BCHRT 266.
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The Scope of Human Rights in the Modern Workplace
December 2017
At a time when the #metoo movement continues to galvanize, the Supreme Court of Canada has issued a landmark decision in British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal v. Schrenk, 2017 SCC 62 that expands protection from discrimination in the workplace so that it now can potentially include within its scope harassment perpetrated by co-workers, even if they have different employers.
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Human Rights Tribunal Confirms Employers Continue to Drive the Bus
December 2017
In Adair v. Forensic Psychiatric Services Commission (No. 2), 2017 BCHRT 147, the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal revisited what accommodation looks like in the employment context. The key reminder for employers and counsel is that the proposed accommodation need not be perfect – when there is more than one reasonable option for accommodation, “the employer is entitled to choose among them”.
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