“I cannot reasonably conclude that an investigation conducted by a manager who has been in a romantic relationship with the Complainant is reasonable or appropriate in these circumstances.” That is just one of the investigation flaws found by NSHRC Chair, Kathryn Raymond, in the matter of Cromwell v. Leon’s Furniture Limited in a decision rendered
As Toronto continues to host the world for this year’s World Pride celebrations, I thought it was a good time to look back at some of the landmark legal moments involving, and impacting, members of the LGBT community. 1. Criminal Code Amendments (1969) On May 14, 1969, Omnibus Bill C-150 passed third reading in the
If you’ve seen photographs or video footage of the home town crowds watching World Cup games in this tournament so far, then you might be asking yourself, “Don’t these people have jobs?” The fact is, many of them do and at least some of them are likely skipping out on those jobs in order to
One of the frequent questions we are asked when conducting our workplace investigation training is, “When faced with conflicting evidence at the end of a workplace investigation, how can we make decisions about the relative credibility of the parties and witnesses?” Even more challenging can be articulating the reasons why you believe the evidence of
Just last week, I wrote about the Miami Dolphins’ swift and effective response to offensive tweets posted by a player in response to the NFL’s draft of its first openly gay player, Michael Sam. Within a week, news of offensive and sexist e-mails written by Richard Scudamore, the Chief Executive of the Premier League, were
I have been “away” for the last number of years, and here I am, back in Halifax, with my own workplace investigation practice. My pleasure at being home has been tempered by the potholes populating Halifax streets. As I was bobbing and weaving down roads leading toward and away from everywhere, I started thinking about
This week, Michael Sam became the first openly gay player to be drafted by the National Football League. The University of Missouri defensive end was drafted by the St. Louis Rams in the final round and, in an obviously emotional moment (televised by ESPN), turned to his boyfriend and gave him a kiss. If you’ve
“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
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
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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