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Litigation Value: training management on whistleblower protections — $10,000; settling customer claims due to the flaming printers — more than Sabre would like to think about; finding out Holly’s coming back — priceless. The printers aren’t the only things heating up at Sabre. Jo’s mission to root out the whistleblower had more than one person […]
By Alix Herber Canada’s two largest provinces — Ontario and Quebec — now have laws requiring employers to seek to provide workplaces free of “harassment.” No longer limited to human rights-related harassment, the term is broadly defined in these laws. Further, Ontario’s new law extends beyond harassment. It, like the federal law, also will require […]
On May 29, the Administrative Review Board (ARB) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued an important decision on the scope of coverage of the nondiscrimination and affirmative action provisions of Executive Order 11246, Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act, and Section 402 of the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 (VEVRAA). […]
by Derek Knoechel In 1990, a 21-year-old woman was caught shoplifting. She then pleaded guilty to a charge of theft, receiving a conditional discharge. Some five years later, she applied for a position with the Montreal police force. So began a 13-year legal odyssey culminating in a Supreme Court of Canada decision (Montréal (City) v. […]
While the world has been focused on the U.S. and global economic meltdown, a historic presidential election, and staggering unemployment numbers, some pretty significant changes have been made in federal employment laws and regulations with most going into effect in just a few weeks. A recent issue of HR Hero Line includes a roundup of […]
Connecticut has become the third state to legalize same-sex civil marriages, which California and Massachusetts already recognize. The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled 4-3 to overturn a lower court ruling that denied same-sex couples the right to marry on the grounds that existing laws allowing civil unions afforded them sufficient rights. Gay and lesbian couples sought […]
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 […]
Litigation Value: $2,000 for intentional infliction of emotional distress (caused by seeing Al Roker dance a jig before the commercial break) Watching the cast of The Office take on a group of American Gladiators in Celebrity Family Feud was just too great an opportunity for me to pass up last night. I was happy to […]
By Donovan Plomp of McCarthy Tetrault and Karen Sargeant, formerly with McCarthy Tetrault Spring will soon be upon us, and with it may come the urge to do some “spring cleaning” in the home and the workplace. This might mean ending an employment relationship that isn’t working out. In Canada, which has no concept of […]
Here is an interesting one. Earlier this week, the mayor of a small town in Oregon was fired after the town learned that there were pictures on the Internet of their esteemed leader posing in front of a fire truck in a black lace bra and panty set. The photographs were taken before she was […]