One of the pillars to a sound investigation process is timeliness. Complaints and allegations of inappropriate workplace behaviour must be taken seriously, and demonstrating this seriousness means giving immediate attention to the matter. That being said, those of us who receive these complaints and allegations are usually juggling many other things, and it is often
Re SUN and Regina Qu’Appelle Regional Health Authority (2017 CanLII 87132 (SK LA)) is a cautionary tale for any employer who has ever relied upon circumstantial evidence to make a finding against an employee. In this case, the Grievor, a Registered Nurse with a history of substance abuse, was alleged to have stolen morphine from
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.
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.
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
Late last week, the provincial government tabled Bill 175, the Safer Ontario Act, which contained extensive provisions to overhaul policing in Ontario. The Bill makes changes to a number of pieces of legislation, including the Police Services Act, which had been in place for twenty-seven years. The proposed legislation includes changes to the civilian oversight
Court and tribunal cases pertaining to workplace investigations used to be cause for excitement among workplace investigators because they were so few and far between. But more and more, we are seeing workplace investigations featured prominently in case law, either as the main issue or an ancillary one. In September there were two interesting cases
Earlier this year, the Ontario Court of Appeal in Doyle v Zochem, 2017 ONCA 130 (“Zochem”) upheld the trial decision (2016 ONSC 3188) to award three types of damages in a wrongful dismissal and sexual harassment case. The complainant, Melissa Doyle (“Doyle”) was a plant supervisor and health and safety coordinator. She worked for Zochem
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