Kyla Stott-Jess of Fasken Martineua writes on HR Hero about several employment law lessons to be learned from the Ghomeshi matter. Among them? Discipline for employee’s conduct in their private lives, employers’ obligation to prevent harassment, and whether a member of a union can sue her employer:
An interesting post on Slaw late last week about police officers in Quebec donning cowboy outfits in silent protest during ongoing labour negotiations. The article points out that because the police service are deemed an essential service, they are not permitted to strike. The employer grieved the clear dress code violation but lost as the arbitrator pointed out that there really aren’t many other ways for employees in an essential service to pressure their employer during such labour disputes:
Order F2014-37 was released earlier this month by Alberta’s Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner. The complainant was surreptitiously video taped by a WCB investigator when she was out with her mother. The mother was in receipt of WCB benefits and was under investigation. The adjudicator found that the collection of the complainant’s personal information was authorized by Part 2 of FOIP. Section 33(b) of FOIP allows the public body to collect personal information for law enforcement purposes. This allowed WCB to collect information about the claimant under surveillance. The provision was not, however, limited to the collection of information of only the claimant. The OIPC did recommend that to the extent possible, personal information of other individuals collected during the investigation be edited or redacted prior to use or disclosure:
Calgary HR Law 