Reading Time: 2 minutes As the COVID-19 vaccine begins to roll out across Alberta, employers may be wondering how vaccinations will be managed in the workplace. While this is a new issue that has yet to be tested in the courts or tribunals, there are guiding principles that employers should keep in mind when considering how to implement a […]
COVID-19 | COVID-19 Vaccines the Workplace: Employees
Reading Time: 4 minutes With COVID-19 vaccine roll-outs ramping up, employees may be wondering how to deal with vaccines in the workplace. In a companion article, our firm provides information for employers about COVID-19 vaccines in the workplace. In this article, we address questions employees may have. Can my employer require that I get the COVID-19 vaccine? Yes, but […]
EMPLOYMENT | Bad Behaviour 6.0: Employees getting away with …
Reading Time: 4 minutes An exhibitionist teacher, a foul-languaged childcare worker and a lustful caretaker are three more cases of employees getting away with bad behaviour. In my opinion, the phrase “fuck off” is just a forceful and intense way to say “leave me alone” or “go away”. On September 12, 1996, I find that Mrs. Legere used the […]
Social Media Posts and Employment: A perilous playground
Reading Time: 4 minutes An employee’s social media or Internet activity can have unexpected impacts on their employer. And their job. Social media, and the Internet generally, has become the preferred pastime of our age. Social media may have begun its life as a glorified digital bulletin board. But it has blossomed into a place where individuals loudly advocate […]
EMPLOYMENT | Worker Status Pending Arbitration
Reading Time: 5 minutes Unionized employees terminated for cause from their jobs can – and often do – ask their unions to grieve the termination. A termination for cause means the employer has grounds (cause) to terminate the employee. This is different from a termination without cause. After filing the grievance, an arbitration process tests the grounds (cause) for termination.
Sexual Harassment and Sexual Assault in the Workplace: Is this Something New?
Reading Time: 5 minutes There has been a great deal of attention in the media lately about allegations of sexual assault and sexual harassment in the workplace. The current “#MeToo Movement” was thought to have started after public accusations of sexual misconduct by former American film producer Harvey Weinstein. The hashtag #MeToo actually developed from the term “Me Too” […]
Constructive Dismissal Still Under Construction
Reading Time: 4 minutes “constructive dismissal can [occur when]… a series of acts that, taken together, show that the employer intended to no longer be bound by the contract.” – Potter v. New Brunswick Legal Aid Services Commission [2015] 1 SCR 500 http://canlii.ca/t/ggkhh Introduction Constructive dismissal was revisited by the Supreme Court of Canada last year in the case […]
Termination for Insolence
Reading Time: 5 minutes We hear that “attitude is everything”, and nowhere is this more important than at work. Consider whether the employee’s attitude below should be enough to justify his firing. Henry, 31, had been working for seven and a half years as an auto body repair technician at the Fox Ford dealership in Woodstock, New Brunswick. He […]
Canadian Unions: From Repression and Resistance to the Right to Strike
Reading Time: 8 minutes The history of Canadian unions is a long and storied one. The Canadian labour movement of the past was a fusion of many disparate groups, often at odds with one another. For many years, the law was inhospitable to unions, with the balance tilted in favour of employers and government. Since the mid-twentieth century, trade […]
Job Candidates Deserve Fair Treatment of Their Applications
Reading Time: 7 minutes I have applied for many jobs in both the private and public sectors in Canada. Some were full-time, most were part-time. Several employers follow a long, drawn-out application process involving several phases: asking for numerous personal and work experience referees;written examinations; telephone calls; and occasionally requiring flights out of province or drives to other cities […]
