Tag: Employment law

Decisionmaking in Employer Pension Plans

By Lyne Duhaime and Ross Gascho If your company is both the sponsor and administrator of a pension plan in a Canadian province other than Quebec, you should take note of the recent Ontario Court of Appeal decision in Re Indalex. Although the case deals with competing claims in insolvency and deficits in wound up […]

And the Beet Goes On

In the words of the incomparable Monty Python troupe – now for something completely different. With the season over and Michael departed, I decided that, rather than review a rerun, I’d share some thoughts about one of the putative candidates to replace Michael. I’ve decided to focus on the character we all love to hate, […]

Looking for I-9 form

I Spy Missing I-9s — What Should HR Do?

by Steve Jones Q: My company recently conducted an I-9 audit and found that we are missing approximately a dozen I-9 forms. I don’t know if they were accidentally purged, filed incorrectly, or never completed. Can we ask the affected employees to fill out another I-9? If so, do we ask them to backdate it […]

New HIPAA Rules Proposed for Disclosure Accounting

A dreaded accounting-of-disclosure rule for electronic protected health information (ePHI) will require action by many employers, in their roles of health plan sponsors. (Employers are not technically “covered entities” under HIPAA privacy but, in effect, must comply if they’re involved in plan administration.) The rule came out in proposed form on May 31. It would […]

Employee Can’t Invade Privacy of Another Employee

By Ian Campbell and Justine Connelly The evolution of privacy rights in the Canadian workplace continues. In recent months we have updated you on court and labor arbitration decisions that have commented on employee privacy rights. An individual employee tried to take her rights one step further when she sued another employee for invasion of […]

Michael’s Goodbye

Tonight’s episode, a rerun of Part 1 of Michael Scott’s goodbye, had, unfortunately, limited employment law relevance.  But one thing did stand out — Gabe’s relentless pursuit (or re-pursuit) of Erin. Gabe demonstrates well the dangers of office romances. Gabe’s inability to cope with Erin’s decision to dump him has Gabe hounding Andy to stay […]

When Weather Affects Your Business and Employees

Raise your hand if your business has not been disrupted by the weather in 2011. In the past two months, large parts of the Southeast and Midwest have been reeling from record numbers of devastating tornadoes; the West Coast had tsunami warnings following the earthquake in Japan; and the Mississippi River and its tributaries have […]

Keeping Permanent Resident Status in Canada

By Gilda Villaran In our December 20, 2010, article, we discussed the ways to become a permanent resident of Canada. In this article we will briefly explain how to keep this status. In contrast with Canadian citizenship, which in principle lasts for life, permanent resident status can be lost if the person doesn’t meet the […]

Can Workplace Surveillance Tapes Be Used as Evidence in Canada?

By Lorene A. Novakowski Another recent Canadian case dealing with collection of personal information about employees, this time through surveillance, emphasizes the importance of good employment policy language for Canadian employers. In Toronto Catholic School Board v. Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 1280, [2011] O.L.A.A. No. 180, the question was whether surveillance tape evidence […]

Still a Disaster, Thankfully

Litigation Value: minimum $250,000 if Dwight gets the job. C’mon, let’s be honest. You watched the season finale of The Office for the same reason that millions of fans watch NASCAR. You knew a pile-up was coming. And you kind of hoped the crash would be fantastically terrible — so long as no one was […]