Serious insight for serious situations.

Serious insight for serious situations.

Ministry of Labour proactively investigating employer compliance with ESA

Although the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (“ESA”) is intended to be remedial legislation designed to protect vulnerable employees, it is only as effective as its enforcement mechanism.  In an effort to ramp up such enforcement, the Ontario Ministry of Labour periodically performs a series of “enforcement blitzes” to proactively investigate employer compliance with the ESA

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Conducting criminal record checks in Ontario – Changes, they are a-coming

On December 3, 2015, the Ontario Legislature passed the Police Record Checks Reform Act. The Act will come into force upon proclamation by the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, which date has yet to be announced though it is expected to occur in the next few weeks. The Act would bring about a sea change in

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Bill 132: Obligation or opportunity?

Starting our own business gave us the opportunity to create the kind of place where we wanted to work – the kind of working environment that would have us excited about heading to work each Monday, as opposed to lying awake on Sunday night dreading the start of another work week.  I am truly grateful

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Beyond the bathroom: Creating transgender-inclusive workplaces

Recently, it seems like all anyone wants to talk about when it comes to transgender inclusivity is bathrooms. Questions about bathrooms dominate recent dialogues and workshops of which I’ve been a part. The US media can’t stop talking about their politicians talking about bathrooms. Large companies like Target are taking positions, leading to praise from

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Again? Making the case for workplace investigation “do-overs”

From time to time, we are retained to redo a workplace investigation that an employer has already done. The prompts for our work on these occasions are different.  Sometimes, on review of the report (or in the case where none is produced) the employer itself knows there is a problem with the process or the

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Treat yo’self! (But not on the employer’s dime)

If you are a Parks and Recreation fan like me, you remember the “Treat Yo’Self Day” episodes featuring Tom and Donna, two of the employees of Pawnee, Indiana’s Parks and Recreation Department.  For those of you who haven’t watched the show, Tom and Donna would take an annual day off of work to shop, indulge

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Out of time, out of luck

I recently represented a client at a prehearing before the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal (the “Tribunal”), arguing that an application filed 2 months after the 1-year deadline set by the Tribunal should be dismissed as untimely. We were successful and the application, which was filed 14 months after an allegedly discriminatory dismissal, was dismissed in

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