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Serious insight for serious situations.

Serious insight for serious situations.

Category: Uncategorized

Fatal flaws: 10 mistakes that can sink your workplace investigation report

November 30, 2020
| By Liliane Gingras

In my role as review counsel, I train others on how to write effective workplace investigation reports.  When I review reports, much of what I focus on is readability: how is the report going to sound to the reader? Is it easy to read? Is the reader going to get confused by the report’s organization? I think about this mythical reader a lot; probably too much in fact, and I bet my colleagues are tired of hearing me go on about it.

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The Supreme Court of Canada’s recent trilogy of cases on s. 276 of the Criminal Code – How we can apply it to our investigation practices

November 23, 2020
| By Sharon Naipaul

In a recent webinar offered at Rubin Thomlinson, titled “Primer on Consent,” we enjoyed a highly informative discussion on consent in the context of sexual assault. Part of that presentation included reference to a trilogy of cases from the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) on the issue of sexual assault and s. 276 of the Criminal Code (“CC”).

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Maybe not that GIF: Digital blackface and other ways in which anti-Black racism may present in the workplace

October 21, 2020
| By Fiona Lee

Call it a job perk? As a workplace investigator, I not infrequently get questions from friends, family, people I’ve just met, about whether Situation XYZ may be an example of discrimination and/or harassment. A recent discussion about digital blackface led me to think of other possible examples of how anti-Black stereotypes and microaggressions can manifest in the modern workplace.

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The booze blog

October 5, 2020
| By Janice Rubin, Liliane Gingras

Alcohol and work events often don’t mix well. Some know this from personal experience. Others, like us, are called upon to investigate allegations arising from work events at which alcohol and “good times” were flowing freely.  It will come as no surprise that, as workplace investigators, the issue of alcohol consumption and intoxication pops up with some frequency in our work.

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To serve and protect? The racial discrimination of a 6-year-old girl by Peel police

August 18, 2020
| By Melody Jahanzadeh

Racial discrimination can often be subtle and difficult to detect, particularly in fluid and dynamic situations such as those involving law enforcement. But as a recent Ontario Human Rights Tribunal decision indicates, police action that is ostensibly intended to maintain public safety can nonetheless amount to race-based discrimination.

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What workplace investigators need to know about how anti-Black racism presents in the Workplace

July 21, 2020
| By Michelle Bird

In a recent blog, my colleague Katharine Montpetit discussed three pivotal human rights cases involving anti-Black racism. These cases demonstrate an advancing awareness of how anti-Black racism manifests in the workplace; arguably, this awareness has grown and changed even since some of these decisions were released.

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Legal principles in discrimination investigations

July 14, 2020
| By Liliane Gingras

The breadth of human rights cases may make it seem daunting for investigators to delve into the legal principles relating to discrimination. However, as workplace investigators, it is incumbent upon us to be informed of these principles. We have summarized in this blog some legal principles that can help guide the investigation process and decision-making in discrimination cases (of course, these have to be considered in conjunction with whatever discrimination policy applies to an employer’s workplace).

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