Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
by Karen Sargeant Wondering if your company is a “best employer?” Canada’s Financial Post magazine recently identified Canada’s Top 10. The winners span the country. They include some of Canada’s best known companies, as well as some that are only well-known within their industry sector. The Financial Post contacted 16,000 private-sector employers to participate in […]
by Brian Smeenk What if one of your employees reports to you he is very upset about what a coworker (“John”) wrote in a social networking web site about their boss? The statements are false and injure the boss’ reputation. If seen widely, they would be hurtful to the boss’ family. You are shown the […]
by Brian Smeenk On October 9, 2008, the Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in RBC Dominion Securities v. Merrill Lynch Canada. The court restored an award of approximately $1.5 million in damages against a branch manager who had coordinated the defection of almost all his branch’s sales group from RBC to Merrill Lynch. […]
by Brian Smeenk Employers with operations in Canada may well ask: “What’s going on up there? What will Canada’s federal election mean for business? How is the world financial crisis playing out there?” It would appear that the most accurate answer to these questions, at this time at least, would be a typically understated Canadian […]
by Brian Smeenk In an important recent decision, Ontario’s Court of Appeal has reconfirmed that noncompetition clauses will be enforced against departing employees only in exceptional circumstances. It allowed two insurance salespersons to take many of their clients to a competing insurance broker despite their contractual agreement to the contrary. What happened? Tim Allan and […]
by Karen Sargeant As we reported earlier this year, 2007 saw three overtime class action lawsuits in Canada — a $651 million class-action lawsuit filed against the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), followed quickly by a $20 million class action against KPMG and then a $350 million class action against a second major Canadian […]
by Karen Sargeant Can fired employees afford to take their prior employers to court? Are trials too expensive? Are there better ways to secure justice for employees? These are some of the questions a group of lawyers in Ontario, Canada, have been considering. Earlier this year, the Chief Justice of Ontario expressed concerns that employees […]
by Brian Smeenk Wall Street has seldom been in such disarray. There are bank and insurance company failures the likes of which we haven’t seen since 1929. The credit markets have been in disarray for months. The federal government rescue packages will significantly affect the deficit. Many are predicting a recession in the USA. How […]
by Brian Smeenk Suppose you want to change an important term of your Canadian employee’s employment contract, such as the bonus plan, future salary adjustments or the termination package. Can you do it without the employee’s agreement? If so, how? Western Inventory Service Ltd. recently found out the hard way that it couldn’t unilaterally alter […]
by Karen Sargeant Americans are not the only ones going to the polls for a federal election this year. Canadians are on their way, too. Despite a planned federal election for October 2009, the Prime Minister just called a federal election, to take place on October 14, 2008. So how would this election affect labor […]