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Slapping incident not enough to terminate employee for cause

By Karen Sargeant We all know proving cause for termination in Canada is difficult. Poor performance rarely equates to cause. And employees seem to be entitled to warnings in most cases. But surely it is cause if an employee slaps another. Not so, according to one Ontario judge in Shakur v. Mitchell Plastics.

Helping Job Seekers Navigate the Application Process

Job boards often include information for job seekers, usually in the form of articles or blog posts intended to help with the job search process. One job site, Nurse.org, has now taken job seeker assistance to the next level.

Phones, Privacy, and Ports of Entry: No Warrant May Be No Problem

In June 2025, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers denied a Norwegian tourist entry into the United States. According to the traveler, CBP officers demanded access to his cell phone and expressed concern over a meme depicting U.S. Vice President JD Vance with a bald head. One officer reportedly described the image as “very […]

Recruiting: Are We Allowed to Recruit Employees from Competitors?

Our company’s hiring managers always want me to recruit from certain competitor companies. I’d like to know what legal and ethical limits there are on my right to recruit employees from other companies. Can I cold call someone in a competing firm and ask if they would be interested in working for my firm? What […]

Supreme Court: Background Investigations on Federal Contract Employees OK

Wednesday, in NASA v. Nelson, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that the government didn’t violate federal contract employees’ constitutional rights by using certain background investigations. In this case, contract employees at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory sued NASA, alleging that the background checks it was using violated their constitutional rights to informational privacy. The background […]

Workplace Violence: Termination of Employee Who Defended Himself Upheld; Are You Ready for a Claim Like This?

Bad feelings between two co-workers erupt, and one goes on the attack. The other worker could back off but instead defends himself. You fire both employees. But now you have a lawsuit on your hands charging the termination violated the right to self-defense of the employee who defended against the attack. Will the court dismiss […]

Bloodline: We did a bad thing

“We’re not bad people, but we did a bad thing.” This is the tagline for the Netflix original thriller-drama Bloodline. If you haven’t seen it, run to add it to your watch list immediately. The show takes us into the lives of the Rayburn family, owners of a picturesque beachside hotel in the Florida Keys. Despite the […]

Quickie election rules are coming—are your managers and supervisors ready?

by Robert M. Vercruysse In February 2014, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) once again announced that it was going to change the rules for Board-conducted elections. This time, there is a properly appointed five-member NLRB. The Board’s previous attempt to change the election rules failed because the courts held that it didn’t have a […]

Do You Want to Be a Better Trainer in 2015? Try These 4 Methods

  If you had to rate yourself as a trainer, you’d probably give yourself high marks, right? But would your trainees agree with your score? Quality, productivity, safety, and innovation in your organization really depend a great deal on the effectiveness of your training. And, if you are the trainer, you need to be good […]