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Serious insight for serious situations.

Serious insight for serious situations.

Insights

Reflections and news direct from Rubin Thomlinson.
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Social media update: Are your employees doing “the Harlem shake”?

Employers will no doubt concede that social media is ubiquitous, and is beginning to permeate the boundary between personal life and professional life; and the YouTube phenomenon is no exception. However, “The Harlem Shake”, the biggest YouTube sensation since Justin Bieber’s “Baby” and Psy’s “Gangnam Style”, has recently caused ripples in the workplace the world

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Recent amendment to Alberta’s Workers’ Compensation Act creates rebuttable presumption for PTSD claims of emergency service workers

A recent “hot topic” in occupational health and safety circles has been psychological health and safety in the workplace. From the workplace violence and harassment provisions that have been added to occupational health and safety legislation across the country, to the introduction of the Canadian Standards Association’s guideline Z1003 (Psychological health and safety in the

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The essential human rights primer for workplace investigators

Since joining Rubin Thomlinson, I have had the opportunity to deliver workplace investigation training to hundreds of human resources professionals who are challenged in their workplaces to respond to issues of discrimination and harassment. During that time, I’ve noticed an increasing recognition of the duty to investigate these matters, and in some cases, I’ve seen

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Coming to a workplace near you this year – More older workers than very young ones

On Monday, an article in the Globe and Mail reported that composition of who is in the workplace has taken a symbolic turn.   On the paper’s front page, Demographics Reporter Joe Friesen, writes that “at some point this year, the number of 15-24 year olds will slip below the number of 55-64 year olds for

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My new job title: Toronto employment and “playbour” lawyer

As I read the paper this morning, I came across an unfamiliar term: “playbour”.  Apparently, this is the brainchild of the media theorist, Julian Kücklich, who coined the term as a result of the confusion between work and play, as facilitated by technology.  As anyone who has responded to a work e-mail from a child’s

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Ten things I know at ten

This is not a blog about employment law. Rather it is about running an employment law firm and leading a team, which I have done with my partner Chris Thomlinson, for ten years now. In fact, this week marks our tenth anniversary. When Chris and I started our Toronto-based employment law firm, we were experienced

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Are you listening Dan Pink? FedEx days come to a Toronto employment law firm

Adopting an orphaned chimp, an exercise video and an anniversary song are not the usual work of an employment law firm, but in one 24-hour period, the employment lawyers at Rubin Thomlinson took a pause and pushed the boundaries of their creativity with extraordinary results. In his remarkable book, Drive, The Surprising Truth About What

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Employment insurance changes create new conditions for claimants

Employment Insurance (“EI”) benefits have provided temporary financial assistance to unemployed Canadians for decades. For most claimants, benefits are 55% of their weekly average insurable earnings, to a maximum of $485 per week. On January 6, 2013, several amendments affecting the availability of EI benefits came into effect. These amendments allow the government to differentiate

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