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In my last blog, I wrote about different types of employee misconduct, other than harassment and discrimination, that may warrant an investigation; for example, conflicts of interest, time theft, fraud, and the disclosure of confidential information.
If you have encountered an allegation of ageism while conducting a workplace investigation, chances are that it involved an older employee who was passed over in favour of someone younger.
For many years prior to joining Rubin Thomlinson LLP, my work involved the investigation of matters that did not relate to harassment or discrimination. I held in-house roles in the private and public sectors that involved the oversight of whistleblower programs.
Employers and workplace investigators face a continually-evolving understanding of “discrimination” under the Ontario Human Rights Code (the “Code”). In recent years, the case law has recognized that discrimination can occur in a wide variety of forms, often subtle and indirect.
A random question occurred to me the other day, “Could disciplining an employee due to their body odour be a form of discrimination?” This question occurred to me when I did a double take reading the headline of the Washington Post article, “Lawsuit says American Airlines kicked 8 Black men off plane, citing body odor.”
La jurisprudence québécoise regorge de décisions particulièrement intéressantes pour les personnes menant des enquêtes en milieu de travail et pour les employeurs.
Québec’s legal landscape is rich with cases that are particularly interesting for workplace investigators and employers, although many remain overlooked due to the lack of English translations.
We often hear horror stories about workplace complaints being handled poorly — instances where employers don’t act, investigators miss the mark, and so on and so forth. I’ll now be the bearer of good news and share what the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal (“Tribunal”) recently found to be reasonable handling of a complaint in Salanguit v. Parq Vancouver and another.
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