This is what unfortunately happened to Philip Kelly, a materials manager that worked for a subsidiary of Linmar out of Guelph. The case is public and you can read the case here. Mr. Kelly was fired after being been charged with, but not yet convicted of, “a crime of moral turpitude, one which most members of the public would find to be repulsive and reprehensible, allegedly committed on his own time, off company premises.“ – Justice Herold. So the question in this article is – if your employee is charged with possession of child porn, can you fire him/her for
TO FINISH READING THIS ARTICLE PLEASE CLICK HERE →Retracting a resignation. If one of my employees resigns in a rage and then tries to retract it what should I do? Retracting resignations is sometimes a tough situation for an employer. There are a few things that you should be aware of. Firstly, you should step back and ask yourself “given all the circumstances, if someone else was in my shoes looking at this situation, would they understand by the employee’s actions that he/she had resigned?” It seems silly, but this is the advice I often give. Sometimes employees disagree amongst themselves and with their employer. It’s human nature.
TO FINISH READING THIS ARTICLE PLEASE CLICK HERE →Have you ever wondered about what would happen if you installed a video camera in the workplace to monitor an employee? Would it be an invasion of privacy? In the following case of Colwell v.Cornerstone Properties Inc. a camera was installed in a ceiling without the employee’s knowledge or without explanation. The Court agreed with a leading employment textbook that standards legislation has not gone very far in safeguarding the employee’s right to privacy in the workplace. The Court referred a case that stated may be able to this as long as you have a reasonable apprehension of abuse by
TO FINISH READING THIS ARTICLE PLEASE CLICK HERE →Aaroc Aggregates Limited, a London operator of four mining pits, was fined $65,000 on August 13, 2009, for a violation under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) after a worker was injured. The news report did not address the specific section of the OHSA that ws violated – which would probably be provision 25. On February 21, 2008, a worker was breaking down frozen material on the surface of a gravel stockpile with an excavator. A large amount of material broke free and hit the side of the excavator’s boom and cab, injuring the worker’s foot. A Ministry of
TO FINISH READING THIS ARTICLE PLEASE CLICK HERE →Bunge Canada, an Oakville maker of edible oil products, was fined $70,000 on August 18, 2009, for a violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) after a worker was very badly injured. In March of last year, a worker was on top of a tanker-trailer at the Bunge’s Weston Rd. facility in Toronto was filling it with oil. The driver started driving out of the loading bay while the worker was still on top of the trailer! The worker fell from the top of the truck down 3.5 meters to the concrete floor. Then the raised tanker-trailer wheels
TO FINISH READING THIS ARTICLE PLEASE CLICK HERE →I run a small business of less than 20 employees. It is a small restaurant and bar down on Lakeshore. Obviously because of the type of industry I often have staff turnover. Should I be placing my staff on a probation period? What are the legal implications of not doing so. Thanks. Thanks for your question. The probationary period is often not understood. Employers think that they have to provide some sort of probationary period by law. The reality is it’s purely a matter contract between you and your employee. You can have probationary clauses in your contracts if you
TO FINISH READING THIS ARTICLE PLEASE CLICK HERE →This is a neat but odd little case. The case of Susan Gray, Applicant v. Springfield Hotels Airport Inc. concerned an application under section 116 of the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (“the Act”) for review of an Employment Standards Officer’s (“ESO’s”) decision not to issue an order to pay against the responding party employer (“the Employer”), in respect of a claim by the applicant for termination pay. The applicant hhad worked for the employer for more than 4 years. She was terminated in October 2007. She worked full time for the employer. In October of 2007 the applicant provided a
TO FINISH READING THIS ARTICLE PLEASE CLICK HERE →In part one of these quick articles on restrictive covenants I discussed the basics of restrictive covenants and how having the proper restrictive covenants in place can help manage your business affairs when employees leave your company with the intention to compete against your company or solicit your patient/clients/customers. A lot of small businesses and startup companies need the protection of restraining departing employees, especially if there is an issue of termination involved or the if the employment relationship soured. Restrictive covenants are an attempt to protect an employer’s market position or goodwill by restricting departing employees from competing or
TO FINISH READING THIS ARTICLE PLEASE CLICK HERE →I thought I would write this four part blog to try and help small business owners by explaining that there are ways that to protect their business from departing employees. I am often asked by employers on how do they protect their business from departing employees. How do you stop departing employees from stealing clients lists, customers lists or patient lists? If you have a departing dentist, how do you prevent them from opening up a clinic across the street and putting a big fat arrow on a sign pointing to their door? How can they advertise to your current
TO FINISH READING THIS ARTICLE PLEASE CLICK HERE →If you fail to attend a hearing or a conference call with the Human Right Tribunal your matter with be dismissed. In the matter of Drenic v. YMCA of Greater Toronto the Tribunal directed that a Conference Call be held to hear submissions on two issues: (i) whether, if found to be true, the applicant’s allegations disclose a violation of the Code; and (ii) whether the personal respondents should be removed as respondents at this stage of the proceedings. The conference call was scheduled for August 10, 2009, at 9:00 AM and a dial-in number was provided to all parties.
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