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Serious insight for serious situations.

Serious insight for serious situations.

Your workplace is more than just a collection of your employees

The Supreme Court of Canada has expanded the definition of workplace discrimination beyond the formal employer – employee relationship. In a decision dated December 15th, 2017, the Court decided that if there is nexus between two people working at the same location or on the same project within an employment context, even if there is

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Lists aren’t just for kids at Christmas: Employers’ (un-fun) to do lists

Now that we’re well into December, there are two realities that have hit me: I need to start Christmas shopping, and Bill 148 has led to a lot of work for a lot of employers. My nephews are busy writing lists for Santa, so I thought that I would start a list of my own.

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What’s love got to do with it? How to manage workplace romance

Sexual harassment in the workplace has been all over the news lately. Most people are hopefully getting the message that harassment in all its forms, including vexatious comments and non-consensual touching, is unacceptable. Employers need to keep in mind, however, that even consensual workplace relationships can come with a host of problems. Although they are

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Opening the book into harassment investigations at the Vancouver Public Library

A November 2017 BC Human Rights Tribunal decision shines some light on how investigations into harassment complaints are conducted at the Vancouver Public Library (VPL).  The decision, Hawknes v. Vancouver Public Library (No. 2), 2017 BCHRT 250, is the second of two procedural decisions involving allegations of harassment, discrimination and failure to accommodate in employment.

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Under reported but not unknown: More on motivating workplace bystanders

As the news brings daily revelations about workplace harassment, and in particular sexual harassment, we continue to think about additional tools employers and other institutions can leverage to combat the problem. At Rubin Thomlinson, we believe that one of the most invaluable and underutilized tools that employers have in their workplace harassment tool kits is

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RT’s Credibility assessment lexicon

For want-to-be or fledgling workplaces investigators, no subject is more difficult than considering how to assess credibility. In our experience, while most new investigators can easily grasp the concept of “credibility” and recognize when they find or do not find a particular witness to be credible, they often struggle to translate this understanding into writing.

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Attention all federally regulated workplaces: Bill C-65 First reading, first look

On Tuesday, November 7, 2017, the Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, tabled Bill C-65, An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code (harassment and violence), the Parliamentary Employment and Staff Relations Act and the Budget Implementation Act, 2017, No. 1, for its First Reading. The bill, which applies to both

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October’s noteworthy workplace investigation cases from BC

Since our case law update last month, we continue to see important workplace investigation issues arise at labour arbitration cases in BC. We even saw that one of the cases mentioned in our last update was reconsidered, and affirmed. Here are two noteworthy workplace investigation-related cases from BC in October. Both of them relate to

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