Serious insight for serious situations.

Serious insight for serious situations.

Insights

Reflections and news direct from Rubin Thomlinson.
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Feeling charitable? There’s a workplace policy for that!

On May 2, 2014, Global News reported that the French Parliament will now allow workers to anonymously donate days off to help co-workers dealing with a seriously ill child. This news item caused me recall approximately eight years ago when, as a parent, I sat beside my then 2 year old son at Sick Kids

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B.C. bank botches investigation

“CIBC was cavalier, insensitive, and reckless. They forged ahead with a termination for cause based on inaccurate and incomplete information despite knowing they had a heightened responsibility to get it right.” This is the way The Honourable Mr. Justice Wong of the British Columbia Supreme Court described the CIBC’s decision to dismiss an employee for

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An $800,000 cautionary investigation tale from Alberta

In what the arbitration panel called a tragic case, an employee of the City of Calgary has been awarded $800,000 in damages (The City of Calgary and CUPE, Local 38, 2013 CanLII 88297). The employee, who worked as a clerk in the City’s Roads division, was sexually assaulted on a number of occasions by a

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All in the family (business): The impact of family ties on an employer’s HR obligations

My grandfather started a small business fifty years ago, a modest par-3 golf course, which my mother, aunts and uncles continue to operate today.  I worked at the golf course during my summer holidays and performed every duty from minding the cash register, serving food, and hurrying slow golfers to picking up garbage.  Even then,

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He said WHAT about me?! Defamation in the workplace investigation context

In a workplace investigation, it is not uncommon for complainants and potential witnesses to express concerns about job-related reprisals before speaking to the investigator. Recently, however, I had witnesses in two separate investigations tell me that they did not want to participate for fear of being sued by the respondent, with one witness specifically referencing

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Vive la France? Is limiting after-hours email a good thing?

This week, approximately one million workers in France in the digital and consultancy sector won a legally-binding agreement protecting them from having to respond to email outside of working hours – that is before 9 a.m. and after 6 p.m.  There has been much talk since about the effect that limiting email outside of working

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Multiple stabbing in Toronto workplace: A tragic reminder of employers’ obligations under Bill 168

April 9, 2014 brought shocking news of an employee who allegedly reacted to the termination of his employment by pulling a knife during the dismissal meeting and stabbing four of his co-workers.  At the time of this writing, three of those individuals remain in hospital—two of them in critical condition. News reports indicate that the

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International be kind to lawyers day – Tuesday, April 8, 2014

No, I didn’t make that up.  It’s really a day, at least insofar as any “International…Day” is really a day.  This movement was started by Steve Hughes, a non-lawyer from St. Louis who works with lawyers in his presentation and rainmaking business and thought that, as a group, they weren’t so bad.  In fact, he

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