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Serious insight for serious situations.

Serious insight for serious situations.

#6 Dealing with harassment and violence In the workplace

Ask any human rights professional and they’ll likely tell you that one of the most difficult topics that come up in their practice is workplace violence and harassment. Employment lawyers will usually agree. The issue has been made all the more complicated since the advent of provisions of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA)

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New year, new money: A quick overview of the EI Premium Reduction Program

New Year’s has always been a time to reflect. As employers, such reflection often leads to consideration of things that can help to impact the bottom line. And one of the best levers to do that – cost savings! I’m always surprised to discover that many employers are not aware of the Employment Insurance (EI)

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No more clarity on family status

A recent decision of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) has created further confusion on the duty to accommodate as it relates to discrimination on the basis of family status. Family Status – A (brief) History Historically, there have been multiple (and conflicting) lines of cases on the test to be applied in cases

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Conducting criminal record checks in Ontario – Changes, they are a-coming

On December 3, 2015, the Ontario Legislature passed the Police Record Checks Reform Act. The Act will come into force upon proclamation by the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, which date has yet to be announced though it is expected to occur in the next few weeks. The Act would bring about a sea change in

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#4 Discriminatory grounds such as family status, age, marital status, etc. that deal with the duty to accommodate

This posting builds upon an earlier one entitled “#2 Mental health or physical disabilities that deal with the duty to accommodate”. As indicated in that post, the duty to accommodate is always a tricky exercise and one that should be treated with the utmost circumspection. The Accommodation Process The Ontario Human Rights Code lists a

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#2 Mental health or physical disabilities that deal with the duty to accommodate

Mastering the ins and outs of the duty to accommodate under human rights legislation is hard. In fact, some would go so far as to say impossible. It’s no wonder this topic has floated to the top of the list of challenges faced by HR practitioners. I’ve given this some thought and come up with

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#1 Termination pay, termination notice, termination with or without cause and pay in lieu of notice (Part 3)

Third and final installment on this first point. To recap, in Part 1 of this series, we discussed whether an employer has cause to terminate employment without notice. Assuming the employer did not have cause to terminate employment we discussed termination provisions in employment contracts in Part 2 of the series. This third post will

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#1 Termination pay, termination notice, termination with or without cause and pay in lieu of notice (Part 2)

Second installment. You’ve decided that you do not have cause to terminate so you will be proceeding on a without cause basis. The next question becomes “What are the employee’s entitlements on termination?”. Well, there are really only two possible options, which I’ve attempted to represent pictorially (clearly, I missed my calling as a graphic

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