In the recent case of Islam v. Big Inc., 2013 HRTO 2009 (CanLII), the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario ruled that a Toronto restaurant, Le Papillion on the Park (the employer), created a poisoned work environment by: a) forcing three Muslim restaurant workers to eat pork despite knowing that it was against their religious beliefs
Today is Persian New Year – or Nowruz. While the weather outside may not reflect it (just yet) – Nowruz is meant to symbolize the coming of Spring, and marks the beginning of the year in the Persian calendar. Given that there are an estimated 121,510 Persians living in Canada, with close to 50,000 living
Last year, St. Patrick’s Day fell on a Sunday; and the year before, on a Saturday. In other words, for the past two years, St. Patrick’s Day has been well-timed from a reveller’s perspective. This year, most Canadians (apart from our friends in Newfoundland & Labrador, who enjoy March 17 as a statutory holiday) will
Recently my colleague and I had the opportunity to travel to Iqaluit, Nunavut in order to provide workplace investigation training. As part of my preparation for our trip, I was introduced to the concept of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, a term for Inuit traditional knowledge and information that is passed down through oral history, customs and traditions.
Recently, my colleagues and I spoke about the challenges of religious accommodation in the workplace. While I would describe each of us as reasonably culturally-aware, my colleagues and I professed (innocent) ignorance surrounding the specific products and costs involved in accommodating certain religious requests, such as installing foot-washing stations to facilitate Wudu or providing a
By July 1, 2014, all employers operating in the Province of Ontario – regardless of their industry sector, and regardless of their size – must have met the requirement to provide their workers and supervisors with occupational health and safety awareness training, pursuant to Ontario Regulation 297/13. That Regulation came into effect in November of
As employment lawyers, we are acutely aware of the value of training and education. This is why it is one of the centerpieces of our firm. Whether we are providing training on how to conduct a workplace investigation or on how to identify human rights issues, we know, based on what our clients tell us,
There seem to be no shortage of articles and blogs these days touting the merits of conducting workplace investigations in many circumstances (we know because we write a lot of them). You read about how they can improve the workplace and help employers avoid legal liability. What you don’t often see written about is how
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