Tag: Canadian

Employers Take Note: Canadian Immigration Process Changing

By Isabelle Dongier Winds of change keep blowing on Canadian immigration lands. The federal government has recently taken several steps to rationalize and centralize its operations. Here are the latest changes, announced in May and June, of interest to companies employing foreign workers in Canada: Restructuring of the visa office network: This includes the closure […]

Taking Environmental Sensitivities Seriously

By Lindsey Taylor The issue of employees with environmental sensitivities often arises for Canadian employers. Most commonly, employees complain about sensitivities to strong scents such as perfume. Human rights laws in many provinces accept that environmental sensitivities may be disabilities, to which the duty to accommodate to the point of undue hardship may apply. This […]

New Year’s Resolutions for Canadian Employers

By Brian P. Smeenk As we all contemplate our personal goals for next year (have you, too, promised yourself to work out more?), what resolutions should you make for your business in Canada? Your CFO might urge the normal resolutions of cutting back on consumption or reducing your size. But maybe there are some more […]

Profit at the Bottom of the Ladder

In her book Profit at the Bottom of the Ladder: Creating Value by Investing in Your Workforce, Canadian researcher Jody Heymann analyzes hundreds of interviews with front line employees to C-suite executives and concludes that your company can profit more from improving worker conditions than cutting wages, benefits, and other workforce expenses. As an example […]

Behind the Scenes

With The Office closed (i.e., not airing a new episode) when it became this blogger’s turn to write again, he found himself with a dearth of fresh material.  So, instead of quantifying hypothetical litigation value, this post will tie up a loose end from his last entry in October, when he cryptically referred to “where […]

Work Permits: Employee Transfers for Canadian Start-Ups

by Isabelle Dongier In our March 22, 2010 article, we explained the simplified and expedited processes for obtaining a temporary work permit for foreign employees transferred from outside Canada to a Canadian parent, subsidiary, branch or affiliate company. These intracompany transfers provide a significant benefit for companies — they exempt them from demonstrating their reasonable […]

Extreme Benefits Makeover: Employee Time Off for Cosmetic Surgery

Should employees receive benefits coverage for time off due to cosmetic surgery? At least two Canadian labor arbitrators think so. In the most recent decision on point, North Bay General Hospital v. Ontario Nurses’ Assn. [2009] OLAA No. 47, 181 LAC (4th) 179 (Stephens), an employee was awarded sick pay coverage for time off while […]

Paying Foreign and Canadian Crews Comparable Wages Not Good Enough

By Thora Sigurdson, Nicola Sutton, and Derek Knoechel SELI Canada Inc. entered into a joint venture with SNC Lavalin and successfully bid on a contract to build a large rapid transit project in the Vancouver area. The so-called “Canada Line” has been a “hot button” project, causing heated debate about the cost to taxpayers, the […]

Key Considerations for a Business Visit to Canada

by Gilda Villaran U.S. companies doing business in Canada often have to send some of their U.S. employees on business trips to Canada. When making arrangements for a trip to Canada, immigration requirements for admission into Canada are certainly not what the U.S. employer thinks about first. On the contrary, at the very last minute, […]