Workplace Policy Archives - Rubin Thomlinson

Vos politiques sont-elles utiles? Parcours à travers une politique type de respect en milieu de travail

November 5, 2024 | By Christine Thomlinson, | By Lori-Ann Green, | By Frédérick J. Doucet

Dans la plupart des juridictions canadiennes, les employeurs sont tenus d’adopter des politiques visant à traiter d’enjeux comme le harcèlement, la discrimination et la violence en milieu de travail. Notre travail d’enquête nous mène à lire beaucoup de ces politiques de « respect au travail » et il appert que la grande majorité d’entre elles sont clairement rédigées dans le but de se conformer aux exigences législatives.

Mushy mandates and scope creep: how investigators lose their way

September 11, 2024 | By Cory Boyd

“If you can’t write out your mandate in a short and simple paragraph, don’t start.”
When delivering our Workplace Investigation Fundamentals sessions, this is how I start the discussion on mandate. Simply put, an investigator’s mandate is the thing (or things) that they are being asked to do, the decision (or decisions) that they are being asked to make.

“No sticker for you!”: A uniform trumps the right to wear a rainbow sticker, Tribunal rules

September 5, 2024 | By Melody Jahanzadeh

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.

Say what you mean – Plain language and workplace policies

September 5, 2024 | By Bruce Best

My colleagues Christine Thomlinson and Lori-Ann Green recently wrote about how an organization’s respect at work policies, often written to comply with its legal obligations and to correspond with legislative requirements, may use legal and technical language which can be difficult to interpret, and may, from the perspective of those whom the policy is designed to protect, not be easy to navigate.1

How do policies help? A journey through a typical respectful workplace policy

August 14, 2024 | By Christine Thomlinson, | By Lori-Ann Green

Most Canadian jurisdictions require employers to have policies that address issues like workplace harassment, discrimination, and violence. In our investigation practice, we read many of these “respect at work” policies, and the overwhelming majority of them are clearly written to specifically comply with legislative requirements.

Projet de loi 190 de l’Ontario: Quel impact aura-t-il dans les enquêtes d’harcèlement sexuel virtuel?

July 3, 2024 | By Katharine Montpetit, | By Alexandra Djagba Oli

Le gouvernement de l’Ontario a récemment annoncé le dépôt du projet de loi 190 (également connu sous le nom de Loi de 2024 visant à œuvrer pour les travailleurs, cinq). Le projet de loi propose des modifications à divers textes législatifs liés à l’emploi. L’un de ces changements est l’élargissement des définitions du harcèlement au travail et du harcèlement sexuel au travail en vertu de la Loi sur la Santé et la Sécurité au Travail (« LSST ») pour y inclure certaines activités virtuelles.

Ontario’s Bill 190: What it could mean for investigating workplace “virtual” sexual harassment

May 29, 2024 | By Katharine Montpetit

The Ontario government recently announced its introduction of Bill 190 (also known as the Working for Workers Five Act, 2024). The bill proposes changes to various pieces of employment-related legislation. One of these changes is the expansion of the definitions of workplace harassment and workplace sexual harassment under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (“OHSA”) to include certain virtual activities.

Bill C-65 – 3 years later … Are you up to date?

May 28, 2024 | By Christine Thomlinson, | By Lori-Ann Green

Where does the time go? Federally-regulated organizations surely recall the passing of Bill C-65 which amended the harassment and violence provisions of the Canada Labour Code (“CLC”). They also no doubt recall the accompanying Work Place Harassment and Violence Prevention Regulations (“Regulations”) that came into effect in January of 2021, and set out more specific requirements for those employers that fall within federal jurisdiction.

Serious insight for serious situations.