Reflections and news direct from Rubin Thomlinson.
Subscribe to receive updates of interest to you.
Filtered By:
A recent Alberta arbitration decision puts renewed focus on a familiar argument in workplace harassment cases: that conduct must be understood in light of the surrounding workplace culture.
Those who manage internal investigations generally want workplace investigations to feel fair. That usually means making sure people feel heard, allowing input, and trying to keep the process collaborative. However, there can also be an urge to treat investigation reports as collaborative documents that can be substantively refined before they are treated as truly final.
In a recent blog, my colleague Dana J. Campbell-Stevens highlighted that workplace investigations involving allegations of systemic discrimination can be particularly complex. She noted challenges such as understanding what the complainant is truly alleging and determining whether the concern lies in a discrete action or in how an entire process operates.
Dans un récent billet, ma collègue Dana J. Campbell-Stevens soulignait la complexité particulière des enquêtes portant sur des allégations de discrimination systémique. Elle relevait les défis liés à l’identification de ce que la personne plaignante allègue réellement, ainsi que la difficulté de déterminer si la situation dénoncée découle d’un geste ponctuel ou du fonctionnement global d’un processus organisationnel.
A question that has come up in my work as an investigator, which prompted me to research the issue (and now blog about it), is: whether it is racist to not want to talk about race? And, what if someone takes it a step further, and judges or penalizes an employee for wanting to talk about race?
I attended the “HR Leaders Summit Canada” conference last week, and participated in a panel where we discussed how human resources can lead organizations for “clarity, capacity, and care.” My co-panelists (Mark Edgar, Rawan El-Komos, and Momina Javaid, moderated by Donna Gray) had much insight and excellent ideas for HR professionals.
In a previous blog, I wrote about the unique challenges of conducting “C-suite investigations” — in other words, investigations into a member or members of an organization’s senior leadership. It is not unusual that these types of investigations are prompted by a complaint made directly (and sometimes anonymously) to an organization’s Board of Directors.
Si vous travaillez dans le domaine des relations de travail ou du droit du travail pour un employeur de compétence fédérale, vous savez déjà que, dans certains cas, vous avez l’obligation d’enclencher un processus formel en matière de harcèlement, ce qui implique parfois de mener une enquête
Follow us:
Rubin Thomlinson LLP
Tel: (416) 847-1814 | Fax: (416) 847-1815
Privacy Statement | Terms and Conditions
Copyright © 2026
