tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-159354592012-01-28T08:10:43.046-05:00Employment Issues in Canada including Human Rights, Stress Claims, Wrongful Dismissal, Workplace Injuries, Workplace Bullying, Sexual Harassment and PrivacyRandall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.comBlogger401100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-41996727091494926502012-01-23T05:25:00.000-05:002012-01-23T05:27:09.742-05:00

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Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-47638463661557747152012-01-10T16:29:00.001-05:002012-01-10T16:31:54.901-05:00

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Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-26981564483889466482007-06-20T09:52:00.000-04:002007-06-20T14:28:59.349-04:00

In his blog yesterday, Mark Steyn, discusses the failing health of Conrad Black's American lawyer, Ed Genson. Genson apparently suffers from a neuromuscular condition which makes it difficult for him to walk or stand for any length of time. Genson has required breaks during the proceedings to deal with blinding headaches which make him lose his train of thought. All of this has made for closing

Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-55474736115971085522007-06-13T11:41:00.000-04:002007-06-13T13:32:58.094-04:00

The big news in employment law recently is the class action suit against the CIBC for unpaid overtime. The suit, launched on behalf of a class of 10,000 employees by labour law firm Sack Golblatt and Mitchell and class action frim Roy Elliot Kim O'Connor, seeks $600 million in damages based on hours worked in overtime but not paid.In Canada, employment law is governed by both the federal and

Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-19336691846099070652007-05-29T11:20:00.000-04:002007-05-29T11:21:52.126-04:00

One pill makes you LargerAnd one Pill Makes You smallPrescriptions to those Alice in Wonderland pills seem to be needed in the workplace when it comes to breast size. Madison Square Gardens was in need of the larger pills when they allegedly required their New York Ranger cheerleaders to stuff their bras. Courtney Prince, one of a dozen skating cheerleaders, alleged in an $800,000 discrimination

Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-91994999102935789332007-05-25T09:09:00.000-04:002007-05-25T09:10:59.222-04:00

Spending one’s own money wisely isn’t always an easy task, spending other people’s money wisely perhaps even more difficult – but $7.2 million on lottery tickets? That’s what two employees at a bank in China are accused of doing. "Ren Xiaofeng, 34, and Ma Xiangjing, 37, were vault managers when they started "borrowing" money from the vault to play the state lottery." The two employees had

Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-52087571197129355212007-05-24T09:07:00.000-04:002007-05-24T09:11:22.576-04:00

Today Coca Cola opens what has been described as the "first corporate museum", called The World of Coca Cola. http://www.woccatlanta.com/ It is perhaps with that sense of gravitas that can only come from a museum with significant cultural artifacts that Judge Owen Foster sentenced a secretary at Coca Cola to eight years in prison for attempting to sell Coke’s secret formula. Going beyond the

Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-68218798195065954112007-05-23T13:48:00.000-04:002007-05-23T16:06:31.353-04:00

The “Hooksett Four” appeared on Good Morning America this morning to discuss the fact that they had been fired for gossiping. The four women, employed by the town of Hooksett apparently discussed amongst themselves the rumour that their boss, David Jodoin, was having an affair with another employee. While this is interesting in the gossip department it is not entirely news in the employment law

Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-60491823185487556572007-05-22T09:12:00.000-04:002007-05-22T14:30:40.126-04:00

Ding dong the Witz is gone, the Wolfowitz, Paul Wolfowitz. Ding dong Paul Wolfowitz is gone.One assumes that that World Bank employees will be singing that refrain or something similar as their campaign to "fire their boss" (see my posts "Mutiny" and "Blue Ribbon" below, ) seems to have taken hold. Bank president Paul Wolfowitz announced last week that he would step down at the end of June. In

Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-36716412885166380812007-05-22T09:11:00.000-04:002007-05-22T09:12:23.499-04:00

Any Simpson’s fan knows that Police Chief Clancy Wiggum has a loose association with the written law. But generally justice prevails. In his own department the chief has variously hired townspeople to help out with the work and there seems to be few employment problems. Marge was a police officer for a while and though she suffered some discrimination at the beginning she was ultimately accepted

Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-65083344968111108492007-05-19T07:55:00.000-04:002007-05-19T08:04:19.395-04:00

Superannuated. That is the word that came to my mind when Denny Crane spoke to his partner Shirley Schmidt in this week’s Boston Legal. Shirley is chastising Denny for firing a shotgun in the office and taking his pants off in a judge’s office last week. Denny tells Shirley that they are getting old. They don’t need to work. They have money. But they need to feel relevant. Crane says that

Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-84954800596887984062007-05-15T12:57:00.000-04:002007-05-15T13:16:31.113-04:00

Stanford Engineering professor, Bob Sutton, has just released his new book: The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One that Isn’t. Great title. Great topic. I repeatedly tell my students that the greatest blight in the workplace today is "stupid management". That phrase coming to me many years ago from a student, a long time trade unionist, who, bored with the Socratic

Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-19426040828524534382007-05-13T09:22:00.000-04:002007-05-13T09:27:49.937-04:00

As all mothers know, the day’s work is pretty consistent with the old adage that "a man may work from sun to sun but a woman’s work is never done" CNN reported recently on a study done by Salary.com: The typical mother puts in a 92-hour work week, the company concluded, and worksat least 10 jobs. In order of hours spent on them per week, theseare:housekeeper, day-care center teacher, cook,

Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-72792259388315066702007-05-13T08:59:00.000-04:002007-05-13T09:01:01.694-04:00

A recent article in the North Jersey record recounted the story of an employee, a climber of sorts, who worked hard and managed to get herself a promotion. But according to management consultant, John Mckee, she suffered from two of the seven deadly sins: greed and gluttony. The executive, McKee states "believed she was capable of more than the others around her, and they collectively, somewhat

Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-44324020724930069832007-05-11T12:34:00.000-04:002007-05-11T12:40:31.865-04:00

RCMP went into the workplace (Department of Environment) Wednesday and arrested and handcuffed 27 year old Jeff Monaghan, self described as "the lowest-ranking temp employee in the department and possibly the entire government." Monaghan is accused of leaking a copy of the Government’s Eco Action plan to the media and to environmentalists. According the the RCMP, "An employee who violates the

Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-41367982743759858432007-05-10T07:22:00.000-04:002007-05-19T08:02:50.983-04:00

Can nude workers be treated differently than workers who are fully clothed? This is the question that the Court of Appeal took on recently. Windsor, Ontario, a city not unknown for its adult entertainment parlours, enacted a by law which required that “dancers” must pay a license fee of $466. The City's By-law provides:a. “Dancer” means any person other than alicensed owner or operator who

Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-81393232913232166062007-05-08T08:06:00.000-04:002007-05-08T08:08:22.401-04:00

In my post on Saturday, I suggested that workplace romances are a bad idea. This bad idea is now getting some play over at the World Bank where president Paul Wolfowitz (former Bush government deputy secretary of defense under Rumsfeld) is allegedly under scrutiny for giving his girlfriend a promotion and a raise. Shaha Riza is a senior communications adviser at the World Bank whose employment

Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-6410160679757612672007-05-07T08:02:00.000-04:002007-05-07T08:10:14.290-04:00

A fine of $50,000 was levied against a fitness club last month and a further $15,000 personally to the the General Manager of the club for violating the Occupational Health and Safety Act.Between July 21, 2005 and January 18, 2006, the Ministry of Labourconducted a series of health and safety inspections at Premier Fitness attheYorkdale Shopping Centre at 3401 Dufferin Street in Toronto. During

Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-83629164149895986412007-05-06T09:12:00.000-04:002007-05-06T09:18:02.156-04:00

All employment is contractual. Most often the terms of the contract need to be implied from the circumstances and from the law. Imus, as a sophisticated player in the employment contract game, had a more specific and refined contract than most.The latest iteration of his contract was only three months into a five year term with an apparent value of $40 million. That contract provided that Imus'

Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-37620223508304188372007-05-05T15:32:00.000-04:002007-05-07T08:13:50.280-04:00

Presumably we are all supposed to be amused by the double entendre of the famed textbook together with the actual anatomy of character Meredith Grey. The television show is largely about workplace relationships and workplace sex. Where Sex and the City was about young women being beautiful, wearing Manolos and having sex, Grey’s is about becoming a superstar surgeon and grappling with sex and

Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-9066905001811344282007-05-04T07:14:00.000-04:002007-05-04T11:18:53.074-04:00

My students asked recently if I was on Facebook. I am not. They were somewhat surprised given my insistence on using the internet for all reference materials used in class, as well as for assignment submission, grading and communication. Our online system uses a technology called Blackboard which allows for communication, discussion, voice messages, etc. It is a great tool to meet the needs of

Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-77066584388972976032007-05-03T23:12:00.000-04:002007-05-04T06:38:38.500-04:00

Wal Mart is almost as well known for its union free stores as it is for its low prices. The employer of some 1.8 million people worldwide has worked diligently to keep unions out. Canada has been a serious threat to that status with several union certifications. Today, the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed Wal Mart's application to appeal a decision of the Quebec Court upholding a labour board

Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-77337829895658402982007-05-02T10:46:00.000-04:002007-05-07T08:15:03.379-04:00

While not an employment law issue, the case in last night’s episode of Boston Legal involving the Sorority kicking out a member is an interesting one to apply to the employment context. In the case Clarence takes on a client who has been kicked out of a sorority because she is socially awkward. Winning argument goes to lawyer, Jerry Espenson, who has Asperger’s syndrome and uses his own

Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-47542204778920357422007-05-01T21:55:00.000-04:002007-05-02T06:44:33.753-04:00

As many know, May 1st, is marked as a day for the international celebration of labour --except in Canada and the U.S. where certain events back in 1884, were the seminal activities creating this day. The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor in Canada and the United States had set this day back in 1884 as the date on which the eight hour day was to become law. For a good summary of the events

Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-32112358357123133462007-05-01T21:25:00.000-04:002007-05-03T10:58:23.974-04:00

Madam Justice Bertha Wilson, the first woman on the Supreme Court of Canada died yesterday. Wilson, well known for her dissenting opinions, was appointed to the Supreme Court just prior to the advent of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms; accordingly, she had a significant voice in shaping the law and articulating the values the Charter protects. Her views in employment cases were generally in

Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-81312239904169098702007-04-28T16:17:00.000-04:002007-04-28T16:34:23.881-04:00

Today, April 28th, is the marked to honour those killed at work. Worldwide, work kills more people than wars. More than two million each year -- that's 6000 workers each day who die on the job. Canada's number is 5 per day.

Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-8557167994154265302007-04-27T11:08:00.000-04:002007-04-27T11:10:29.984-04:00

In Douglas County, Colorado, a 29 year old female prosecutor, Laurie Steinman, was fired December 22nd for having sex with a Judge, 57 year old Grafton Biddle, who resigned on December 18th. The relationship came to light when Biddle’s 4th wife wrote to the chief judge. Apparently, they were having sex in his chambers and in the showers in the womens’ locker room. The Attorney Regulation Council

Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-58608505717142898672007-04-26T16:50:00.000-04:002007-04-27T10:48:14.852-04:00

I erroneously posted in my April 17, Anniversary review of the Charter, that the Skapinker case was the first employment case to consider the Charter. Having had occasion to do a little research on Non Standard Employment, I discovered that the Westerhouse case was the first. In that case the accused and her friend, were "working girls" who approached an undercover police officer and offered to "

Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-50644714627745020482007-04-26T07:32:00.000-04:002007-04-26T14:16:22.789-04:00

In what seems like a scene from a movie, a CP rail engineer was killed Monday when the train he was operating careened out of control down a steep mountain grade in Trail, BC. The engineer, Lonnie Plasko, told his two crew members to jump from the train while he continued to try to prevent the 10 car train from crashing into the nearby parking lots and pipelines of mining company Teck Cominco.As

Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-10051707276454091362007-04-25T07:55:00.000-04:002007-04-25T08:08:29.084-04:00

Shock Jocks, as crude radio hosts are called, like all radio personalities, get paid to bring in an audience. Where there’s an audience there’s an advertiser. CBS has obviously done well by using shock jocks having employed Imus for 30 years and Howard Stern for a many years as well. As I mentioned in my post on Imus, it is more than a little disingenuous to fire them for what they are paid to do

Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-7469330912168801442007-04-24T11:12:00.000-04:002007-04-24T21:04:46.564-04:00

"Well I woke up Sunday morning with no way to hold my head that didn't hurt. And the beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad so I had one more for dessert." Those words penned by the great Kris Kristofferson in 1970 might not have resonated so well in a society where Sunday work was the norm. Instead of "stoppin by the sunday school and listenin to the song that they were singin", the "I" of the song

Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-63248550338627604652007-04-24T10:21:00.000-04:002007-04-24T10:22:20.078-04:00

Death came to the workplace again on Monday morning at about 4:30 a.m. when a subway car driven by a TTC employee, came into contact with maintenance platforms. The platforms crashed into the operator’s compartment of the car killing the operator and injuring two other members of the 11 member maintenance crew.All the crew members there are likely to experience the type of stress discussed in

Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-60074202328737007402007-04-23T13:12:00.000-04:002007-04-24T08:18:02.258-04:00

The Virginia Tech community has undergone and is in the midst of tremendous stress. In addition to the suffering the community is already going through, the stress will continue to show up in different ways over time. One of the very real results from traumatic events such as that at VT is the inability of participants, victims, observers to get past the event and return to normal living. The

Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-51014369650029201642007-04-20T07:36:00.000-04:002007-04-20T18:20:57.057-04:00

It’s eight years ago today that the word Columbine became embedded in the collective psyche following the mass murder of 12 students and one teacher at Columbine High School by two male students. VT shooter Cho mentioned the Columbine shooters in his video recorded rant. In both shootings faculty members were killed. In both shootings there were written warnings by the shooters. However, from

Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-87374944742731015662007-04-19T18:56:00.000-04:002007-04-19T19:00:29.230-04:00

and by opposing, end them. To die: To sleep.I have noticed the numerous blogs by VT students lamenting the fact that they weren’t allowed to carry guns on campus so they might have "defended" themselves against the gunman. This sort of sophomoric nonsense is barely worthy of comment – except insofar as it evinces a mentality that is present in the classroom whether it comes with guns or not. The

Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-90814888510934878902007-04-19T12:12:00.000-04:002007-04-19T20:19:50.455-04:00

Should Imus have been fired for his comments that the Rutgers University Women's basketball team are a bunch of "nappy headed ho's"? As a non news event now, it is still nonetheless an issue that's worth considering. Aside from comments one might make about the racial hatred or stereotyping issue and the galvanizing power of those issues -- as seen in the Duke Lacrosse players' case -- the

Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-27134013374906465672007-04-17T16:43:00.000-04:002007-04-26T15:45:18.886-04:00

Today, April 17th. marks the 25th anniversary of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. There is relatively little charter litigation based on employment. This is primarily because the Charter of Rights applies between the government and the people, rather than between private parties such as an employer and employee. The Supreme Court of Canada made this point back in 1986 in a case called Dolphin

Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-1126639554113425262005-09-13T15:16:00.000-04:002005-09-13T15:25:54.116-04:00

The issue of off how duty conduct can affect your employment has never been more prevalent than it is today with the proliferation of blogs. The term that has been coined to describe getting fired for what you write/post on your blog is dooced: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=doocedThe case with the most notoriety at present is that of Ellen Simonetti, the queen of the sky, http:/

Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-1125433529559698372005-08-30T15:59:00.000-04:002005-08-30T16:25:29.583-04:00

As Austin Power's father, Nigel, says in the movie Goldmember, "there are only two things I can't stand -- intolerance for other cultures and the Dutch". Gay bashing in Amsterdam raises some curious problems for the intolerant -- and for the Dutch.The story, apparently, is that an American gay couple were walking down an Amsterdam street, hand in hand, when one of them, the editor of a Gay

Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935459.post-1125431771520997102005-08-30T15:51:00.000-04:002005-08-30T15:56:11.523-04:00

"Tell me, are you a Christian Child?" I said, "Ma’am I am tonight". The senseless shooting of Marc Cohn recently, causes me to think of that line from Walking in Memphis. Maybe Muriel, down at the Hollywood, can ask that question, but what about the employer in Edmonton? Such questions raise the interesting debate on the freedom of religion versus the freedom from discrimination on the basis of

Randall Telford, Barrister-at-Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17211617198811577540noreply@blogger.com1