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...]
Alberta Election Legislation and Charities
After years of turmoil around the topic, the federal government moved recently to reform treatment of charities’ “public policy dialogue and development activities”. The reform was, at least in part, in response to the striking down as unconstitutional of certain provisions of the Income Tax Act … [Read more...]
State Neutrality Does Not Always Result in Substantive Equality
Recently, Quebec Premier François Legault’s government introduced Bill 21 (An Act Respecting the Laicity [Secularism] of the State). Among other things, the Act prohibits public workers in positions of authority (e.g., teachers, police officers, prison guards, Crown prosecutors, government lawyers … [Read more...]
Alternatives to Court: Mediation
In the first column in this series, John-Paul Boyd introduced basic alternatives to resolving family law disputes in court. In the second column, I wrote about the Collaborative process. In the last issue, John-Paul Boyd explained arbitration. In this column, I’m going to talk about … [Read more...]
To Stop or not To Stop? Police Carding Practices
In R. v. Omar, 2018 ONCA 975 (CanLII), the Ontario Court of Appeal has rubber stamped the illegality of what is commonly referred to as carding, declaring that “[Everyone has] every right to be walking down the street unimpeded by the police” (at para 51).In a stunning decision where the Crown’s … [Read more...]
Police Demanding Evidence from Journalists: The Vice Media Case
Introduction How do police detect crimes? Like us, the police do not see many crimes taking place when they are walking or driving around. They become aware of crimes when people report them. They occasionally detect crimes online.Some people communicate with journalists to publicize their … [Read more...]
The Duty of Unions to Fairly Represent Their Members
Unions are accountable to workers by the doctrine of "duty of fair representation", the parameters of which are set out in case law.Plight of the unionized workerThe average unionized worker is in a weak position at work. In many workplaces he will, as a condition of employment, be required to … [Read more...]
Accommodation in Tenancy: Assistance and Support Animals
Sometimes tenants require the assistance and support of an animal. Are landlords required to accommodate a tenant with an assistance or support animal? Well, part of the answer depends on the type of animal involved: does the situation involve a disabled tenant with a qualified service or guide dog, … [Read more...]
Alternatives to Court: Arbitration
In our first column in this series, I introduced the basic alternatives to resolving family law disputes in court – negotiation, mediation and arbitration – and talked about some of the surprising research on lawyers’ views about litigation. In the second column, Sarah Dargatz wrote about … [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...]
