It’s that time of year: Seasonal Affective Disorder hits some employees
‘Tis the season for us to put away the lawn furniture and take apart the garden. The sunlight hours are decreasing and the plants around the house are turning brown. We are now faced with leaves on the ground, colder, damper weather, and soon, Christmas commercials. As we take out our winter coats and snow shovels, it is important to remember that this is the time that Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) can hit employees. What can employers do?
Christina Catenacci, BA, LLB, LLM, PhD
Supplemental Unemployment Benefit (top-up) plan reporting
We set up a Supplemental Unemployment Benefit (SUB) plan in the last year (also known as a top-up plan). How do I report the payments our employees received under the plan in 2011? Before answering this question, let’s clarify a couple of terms…
Alan McEwen
Slaw: Why I was compelled to watch ‘Pan Am’
Why I was compelled to watch the television show Pan Am? To see if they would accurately portray the workplace culture of the 1960’s, which I have heard about and find very intriguing. In addition, with the recent Air Canada labour troubles on my mind, the show seemed a propos.
Marie-Yosie Saint-Cyr, LL.B. Managing Editor
Salary increase projections for 2012, ‘cautiously optimistic’
I’ve been doing some reading to see what salary increases are predicted for the year 2012, and whether things will be more optimistic for Canadian employees who work hard to make ends meet. It turns out that most are projecting a marginal increase from last year, when employees also received marginal increases; that is, lower than the increases prior to the economic downturn.
Christina Catenacci, BA, LLB, LLM, PhD
3 minutes read
September 23, 2011
Assessment of human resources: An organization’s most valuable assets
How does an organization identify the best person for the job when filling a position? Companies generally follow a defined process for recruiting, hiring and promoting. They have a job description and certain criterion they are looking for. Whatever the process may be, it needs to be robust and legally defensible. The best method for achieving this is to use a formal assessment centre.
John Proctor
3 minutes read
September 20, 2011
Employers must now treat verbal threats as serious offences under the OHSA’s definition of workplace violence
A recent labour arbitrator’s decision—to uphold the City of Kingston’s right to terminate a 28-year employee for issuing a verbal threat against a co-worker—was based in large part on the arbitrator’s view that “the classification of threatening language as workplace violence” under the Occupational Health and Safety Act represents a “clear and significant change” to the law in Ontario.
David Hyde
Manitoba employer obligations on election day
The next provincial election in Manitoba is scheduled for Tuesday, October 4, 2011. Employers have certain obligations to employees under the Manitoba Election Act. The writs have been issued for Manitoba’s 40th general election providing for a 28-day election campaign. The lawn signs are out and political parties in Manitoba have kicked their campaigns into high gear.
Marie-Yosie Saint-Cyr, LL.B. Managing Editor
Another case of school employee working in sex trade – this time, teacher did not lose job
Remember the case where a Quebec school board terminated an office assistant because she was a porn video star on the side? She was terminated because her off-duty conduct was inconsistent with the school board’s mission and the values the board wished to convey to students. Well, here’s another case where a sex-ed teacher who also worked as a stripper and porn actor was allowed to keep teaching! What was the difference in this case?
Christina Catenacci, BA, LLB, LLM, PhD
Employer had just cause to terminate an employee who worked a second job
In some unfortunate cases, Canadians need to work two jobs in order to make ends meet. Well, it seems that sometimes taking a second job may not be a good idea. The British Columbia Provincial Court recently found that an employer could terminate an employee for just cause because that employee had a second job and refused to quit when she was asked.
Christina Catenacci, BA, LLB, LLM, PhD
3 minutes read
September 2, 2011 