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Serious insight for serious situations.

Serious insight for serious situations.

Out of time, out of luck

I recently represented a client at a prehearing before the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal (the “Tribunal”), arguing that an application filed 2 months after the 1-year deadline set by the Tribunal should be dismissed as untimely. We were successful and the application, which was filed 14 months after an allegedly discriminatory dismissal, was dismissed in

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Accommodation – You can’t always get what you want

A Nova Scotia Human Rights Board of Inquiry recently tackled an accommodation issue in LeFrense v. IBM Canada Ltd., 2015, CanLII 1720 (NS HRC). Board Chair, Walter Thompson Q.C., found that IBM did everything within its power to assist its employee, Mr. LeFrense, in returning to the workplace and accommodating his sleep apnea in accordance

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The Young and the Restless: Soap opera lessons for real life employers in dealing with misconduct linked to mental illness and addiction

On occasion1, I tune into a longstanding television soap opera called, The Young and the Restless, as a distraction from the issues of everyday life.  Most recently however, the soap opera did not act as a distraction, but rather reminded me of the societal challenges faced by employees who suffer from mental illness.  As an

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TIFF: Life imitating art?

I was lucky enough to be invited to attend a TIFF Premiere this past weekend for the film “Welcome to Me”.  In case you’re not familiar with the film, it tells the story of a woman, Alice, who suffers from Borderline Personality Disorder and wins $86 million in the lottery. The film focuses on the

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I thought training was supposed to fix this

Two years ago, I attended a Compliance and Ethics Academy in Chicago and was certified as a Compliance and Ethics Professional. Since then, I regularly review publications and articles about compliance systems throughout North America and am often struck by the consistent manner in which training requirements and initiatives impact workplaces when they are included

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“One of these days, someone is going to knock that attitude out of you!”

The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, in a decision dated September 5, 2012, found that Paul Lombardi had suffered harassment in the workplace and that his dismissal from employment due to fighting was discriminatory. The Ontario Divisional court in Walton v. Lombardi, 2013 ONSC 4218 set aside that decision. The Court ruled that there was

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“Help! The World Cup is turning my employees into crazy people!”

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

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What to do when employees are not flooding to work

The other week, Toronto was hit with a major rainstorm that ground parts of the city to a halt. The effect of the storm was felt particularly by those in the west end of the city whose homes, businesses and streets were flooded by the uncharacteristic amount of rain. Naturally, those affected by the storm

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