While legislatures must inevitably draw distinctions among the governed, such distinctions should not bring about or reinforce the disadvantage of certain groups and individuals by denying them the rights freely accorded to others. - Andrews v Law Society of British Columbia, [1989] 1 SCR … [Read more...]
Reading Between the Lines: Implied terms in individual employment contracts
In Canada, every non-unionized employee has a contractual relationship with their employer. What does that contract look like? Employment contracts may be written or oral, or both. When you sign and return a letter offering you a job, the terms of the letter are the written elements of the … [Read more...]
How Earnings Must Be Paid
Introduction In 1981, when I was a student working for the summer in London, England, every two weeks I would walk over to another building and join a queue to collect my pay packet. In the little cardboard pouch, I found a very narrow strip of paper of numbers that explained how my earnings and … [Read more...]
Bad Behaviour 4.0: Employees getting away with . . .
If an employee has been guilty of serious misconduct, habitual neglect of duty, incompetence, or conduct incompatible with his duties, or prejudicial to the employer’s business, or if he has been guilty of willful disobedience to the employer’s orders in a matter of substance, the law recognizes the … [Read more...]
The Duty of Unions to Fairly Represent Their Members
Introduction: plight of the unionized worker The average unionized worker is in a weak position at work. In many workplaces he will, as a condition of employment, be required to join the existing union. Or he may have been out-voted in the decision to unionize. Bringing serious concerns and … [Read more...]
What is ‘Self-Dealing’ in Employment?
Introduction While they have human bosses, most employees work for corporations, which are legal fictions with no physical existence. That renders employers technically vulnerable to their own employees who might want to take advantage of them. It is both impossible and undesirable to scrutinize … [Read more...]
Privacy and Medical Information in the Workplace
How can we balance an employer's right to know about illness or disability and an employee's right to privacy? Requesting medical information from employees may raise privacy issues. Employees have the right to keep their medical information confidential and private. But employers also have the … [Read more...]
A Year of Holidays
Introduction The Christmas and New Year holiday season is a good time to reflect generally on work and legally enforced rest. This article is about the law of holidays, the legislated observance, and payment of holidays by employers across the country for the benefit of their workers. There is … [Read more...]
Words Matter
Introduction Several decades ago, in my first summer job during university, I washed dishes and performed other unskilled labours in the kitchen of a large government seniors’ nursing home in rural Alberta. While the work itself was not particularly memorable, I observed in that workplace of 15 … [Read more...]
Too Over-qualified for the Job?
Introduction Employers usually promise job seekers that they are looking for the most qualified workers. It is in their interests to do so. But occasionally they do not wish to hire the most qualified applicants. What if a slow economy produces many clearly over-qualified applicants and the … [Read more...]
