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Serious insight for serious situations.

Serious insight for serious situations.

Benevolent sexism – I don’t need you to carry my briefcase 

I remember it like it happened yesterday. My colleague and I were packing our briefcases at the end of a long day. Another colleague approached and offered to carry my colleague’s briefcase. She declined his offer, and he offered again. She refused again, and he said, “But you’re such a little thing.” I remember this incident so clearly, even though it happened several years ago. It was disorienting and awkward.

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Projet de loi 190 de l’Ontario: Quel impact aura-t-il dans les enquêtes d’harcèlement sexuel virtuel?

Le gouvernement de l’Ontario a récemment annoncé le dépôt du projet de loi 190 (également connu sous le nom de Loi de 2024 visant à œuvrer pour les travailleurs, cinq). Le projet de loi propose des modifications à divers textes législatifs liés à l’emploi. L’un de ces changements est l’élargissement des définitions du harcèlement au travail et du harcèlement sexuel au travail en vertu de la Loi sur la Santé et la Sécurité au Travail (« LSST ») pour y inclure certaines activités virtuelles.

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Data and Investigation Series: How can organizations use investigation data to benefit their workplaces?

This is the third and final post in a series of blog posts that I wrote on data and investigations.

To recap, workplace investigations are also an invaluable source of data that organizations can use in a variety of ways – outside of the investigation process – to help their workplaces get into the zone – the optimal workplace that is characterized by respect, civility, tolerance, inclusivity, and no, or few, employment-related legal problems.

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Make it your policy to review your policy: Identifying policy issues that affect workplace investigation reports

In most of our workplace investigations, the organization that retains us asks us to measure our findings of fact against one or more of their policies. This means that, once we have made findings of fact, we must decide whether the respondent’s conduct has breached a policy or policies that the organization has asked us to apply.

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Ontario’s Bill 190: What it could mean for investigating workplace “virtual” sexual harassment

The Ontario government recently announced its introduction of Bill 190 (also known as the Working for Workers Five Act, 2024). The bill proposes changes to various pieces of employment-related legislation. One of these changes is the expansion of the definitions of workplace harassment and workplace sexual harassment under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (“OHSA”) to include certain virtual activities.

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Bill C-65 – 3 years later … Are you up to date?

Where does the time go? Federally-regulated organizations surely recall the passing of Bill C-65 which amended the harassment and violence provisions of the Canada Labour Code (“CLC”). They also no doubt recall the accompanying Work Place Harassment and Violence Prevention Regulations (“Regulations”) that came into effect in January of 2021, and set out more specific requirements for those employers that fall within federal jurisdiction.

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When is enough enough?! Salanguit v. Parq Vancouver tells us when a complaint has been reasonably handled

We often hear horror stories about workplace complaints being handled poorly — instances where employers don’t act, investigators miss the mark, and so on and so forth. I’ll now be the bearer of good news and share what the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal (“Tribunal”) recently found to be reasonable handling of a complaint in Salanguit v. Parq Vancouver and another.

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Workplace investigations: When to start and how to finish

We speak (and blog and train) often about how to conduct a workplace investigation. However, it’s important to remember that employers need to be aware of their legal obligations relating to when to start one and how to finish it. Two recent decisions provide important information about these investigation bookends.

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Stress Traumatique secondaire – Qu’est-ce que c’est et qui est à risque?

Beaucoup d’entre vous connaissent le terme « stress traumatique secondaire » – une forme de stress qui peut survenir lorsqu’une personne entend les détails d’un traumatisme vécu par une autre personne1. Alors que le stress traumatique secondaire est plus souvent associé aux prestataires de soins de santé, tels que les travailleurs sociaux, les psychologues et les premiers intervenants, il peut affecter toute personne exposée à un traumatisme.

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What Taylor and Travis’ relationship taught us about Misogynoir 

I was excited when I found out that Usher was performing for this year’s Super Bowl Halftime show. In my opinion, an artist who has been highly underrated, was finally given the opportunity to perform for millions of people on live TV. Usher beautifully executed promotion of his performance, as the commercials highlighted his body of work that I have known since I was young. I may not be a complete NFL fan or “buff.”

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