Resources
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The Importance of Conducting Fair Workplace Investigations
August 2015
The use of workplace investigations in situations where employees are dismissed for just cause has received considerable attention from the courts in recent years, with the decision of the British Columbia Supreme Court in Vernon v. British Columbia, in which the Court was highly critical of the manner..
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BC Human Rights Tribunal Rules Exclusion from Disability Benefits and Mandatory Retirement Not Discriminatory
July 2015
The BC Human Rights Tribunal (“Tribunal”) recently considered the application of s. 13(3)(b) in two age discrimination complaints. The Tribunal dismissed both complaints on preliminary applications.
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The Inadvertent Dismissal: The Tale of an Administrative Suspension Growing Up to Become a Very Costly Constructive Dismissal
July 2015
Employers often use an administrative suspension as a tool for removing an employee from the workplace during the course of an investigation. But does doing so amount to a constructive dismissal?
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Don’t Forget to Check Those Text Messages! After-acquired Cause Upheld for its “Criminal” Nature in Safety Sensitive Industry
June 2015
In Van den Boogaard v. Vancouver Pile Driving Ltd., 2014 BCCA168, the B.C. Court of Appeal unanimously affirmed that a supervisor’s conduct of procuring drugs from an employee under his/her supervision will support a finding of just cause, even when the employer discovers the misconduct after….
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Freedom of Association Now Protects the Right to Strike
March 2015
In Saskatchewan Federation of Labour v. Saskatchewan, 2015 SCC 4, the Supreme Court of Canada reversed its 1987 decision and concluded that the right to strike is protected under section 2(d) of the Charter: freedom of association.
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Drug Detection Dogs Fail Smell Test
May 2015
In United Steelworkers Local 7552 v. Agrium Vanscoy Potash Operations (Grievance 16-10, Random Drug Searches/Interviews), [2015] S.L.A.A. No. 1 (Norman), a Saskatchewan employer’s practice of periodically deploying drug detection dogs to screen individuals entering its safety-sensitive worksite was held to be in breach of the collective agreement.
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Beware The Administrative Suspension with Pay! It May Result in a Successful Constructive Dismissal Claim
March 2015
In a recent decision of the Supreme Court of Canada – Potter v. New Brunswick Legal Aid Services Commission, 2015 SCC 10 – the majority concluded that where the terms of an employment contract do not include the authority to place an employee on administrative suspension and…
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Major Clarification in Law around Dismissal of Non-Union, Federally Regulated Employees: Wilson v. Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, 2015 FCA 17
March 2015
The Federal Court of Appeal recently clarified that without cause dismissals of employees covered by the Canada Labour Code (the “Canada Code”), such as those working in banking, broadcasting, telecommunications and the railways, are not automatically “unjust” simply by virtue of the fact that no cause is asserted.
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