Chris Holmes worked days for the Border Force at Stansted Airport and baked cakes in his spare time. After three years of moonlighting, Mr. Holmes decided it was time to pursue his cake business full-time. This left the matter of announcing his decision to his employer. How better for a baker to resign than on
When an employer is made aware of allegations of employee misconduct, employment lawyers generally advise that they are expected to respond fairly and conduct some form of investigation before reaching any conclusion on fault for the misconduct and any resulting discipline. Given the potential duration and cost of an investigation process, an employer may be
Is Saskatchewan, birthplace of Tommy Douglas, the co-operative movement, and curling champions galore, a hotbed of harassment? In 2007, Saskatchewan amended its Occupational Health and Safety Act to address workplace violence and personal harassment. This made Saskatchewan the second province in the country to extend this type of protection to employees. The first province was
I was very interested to read last week the summary of The 2012 National Study on Balancing Work and Caregiving in Canada (the “Study”), published by Carleton University professor, Linda Duxbury, and University of Western Ontario professor, Christopher Higgins. This is the 3rd such study, conducted once a decade since 1991, and there are some
In speaking to employers, and particularly to human resources professionals, I often hear how challenging they find it to accommodate their employees’ needs as they relate to creed, both because of the sensitive nature of discussions around religion and the uniqueness of each employee’s genuinely held beliefs. A recent decision by the Ontario Superior Court
Someone played the “Dumb Ways to Die” video for me recently. I know it sounds morbid, but it’s actually a very clever video produced as a public service announcement for Metro Trains in Melbourne, Australia on train safety (check it out at http://dumbwaystodie.com/). It got me to thinking about the dumb ways that people manage
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
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
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
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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