Atlantic Employers’ Counsel – Fall 2015
THE EDITORS’ CORNER
Trick, Treat or … Taunt? Workplace Bullying and Harassment
Fall has arrived! The leaves are changing colours, families are stockpiling Halloween candy (some of which will actually last long enough to be distributed on the 31st), and warm knitwear is being dragged back out of the closet. But what is happening at your workplace? Are all of your employees “playing nice” with each other or do you have some ghouls in the group?
BULLYING ISN’T JUST FOR KIDS ANYMORE: ACTUALLY, IT NEVER REALLY WAS…
The recognition that bullying occurs far beyond the playground is now so widespread that an entire episode of The Simpsons was dedicated to the topic earlier this year. However, despite the recognition of its occurrence, even the most seasoned human resources professionals often still shy away from dealing with serious interpersonal conflicts between coworkers or between superiors and subordinates.
WHEN HARASSMENT IS NOT HARASSMENT
Stephen Carpenter, CHRP and Patti Wheatley
There is more and more discussion today about harassment and bullying in the workplace. This has led to assertions of harassment and bullying in situations even where the claims are unwarranted. Discipline is one of the most frequent areas where we see claims of harassment from employees – employees claim that they are being harassed but managers feel they are simply doing their job.
TOP 10 CONSIDERATIONS FOR WORKPLACE (AND THEREABOUTS) SEXUAL MISCONDUCT
Over the past year Jian Ghomeshi went from being the “King of Spain” to eating “Humble Pie” (if you are too young/old to know what this is referring to, search Moxie Früvous). Whether it’s the CBC or Bill Cosby, issues of sexual misconduct have been dominating the headlines. Even off-duty conduct is up for scrutiny – consider the worker who yells “FHRITP” to a reporter during a live broadcast or heckles a female comedian off the stage during a work party.
FALSE/UNFOUNDED ALLEGATIONS: WHAT ABOUT THE UNSUBSTANTIATED COMPLAINTS?
As long as there are harassment and respectful workplace policies that provide employees an opportunity to file complaints against their fellow employees, there will be, periodically, false or unfounded allegations. Employers can put themselves in a better position to avoid the liability associated with such false or unfounded allegations if they abide by the following:
Archive
By Levi Parsche As 2022 winds to a close, it’s a good time to review some of the legislative changes that have impacted Atlantic Canada in the last year — and consider what’s ahead for…
Read MoreBy Kevin Landry and Colton Smith The Bank of Canada (“BoC”) has announced the supervisory framework (the “Framework”) it will use to oversee payment service providers under the Retail Payments Activities Act. The Retail Payments Activities…
Read MoreBy John Samms, Stuart Wallace and Dave Randell On December 14, 2022, the Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Industry, Energy and Technology announced the launch of a Crown land call for bids for wind energy…
Read MoreWe are pleased to present Beyond the Border: A Year End Immigration Wrap-Up. Compiled by lawyers from our Immigration team, this 2022 update covers topics including a look back at the end of pandemic restrictions…
Read MoreNote: this is an update to a previously posted Thought Leadership piece from November 2020 to reflect the delayed coming into force of these proposed changes, as well as additional information that has become available. …
Read MoreAs part of our presenting sponsorship of the 2022 Halifax Chamber of Commerce Annual Fall Dinner, lawyers in our Immigration group compiled a series of Thought Leadership articles drawing on the themes of population retention…
Read MoreBy Brittany Trafford and Michiko Gartshore On November 16th, 2022 the Federal Government switched to the 2021 National Occupational Classification (NOC) structure from the prior 2016 version. The NOC is Canada’s national system used to…
Read MoreAs part our presenting sponsorship of the Halifax Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Fall Dinner, we are pleased to present a series of thought leadership articles highlighting the dinner’s themes of immigration, recruitment, and labour market…
Read MoreKevin Landry, Charlotte Henderson, and James Pinchak The governance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is entering a new era since the Canadian Government first announced a digital charter in 2019 as part of a larger-scale overhaul…
Read MoreWe are pleased to present the eleventh issue of Discovery, our very own legal publication targeted to educational institutions in Atlantic Canada. With a new academic year well underway, the Atlantic Region is finally seeing…
Read More