The Government of Manitoba issued a news release today concerning amendments to the province's Human Rights Code that would prohibit discrimination based on gender identity and disadvantaged social status.

The amendments are found in Bill 36, the Human Rights Code Amendment Act.

The release states as follows:

 read more »

The decision in Lounsbury v. Dakota Tipi First Nation, 2011 MBQB 96 is unique in that the court awarded the plaintiff former employee both solicitor client costs and punitive damages because of the defendant employer's conduct.

The court had previously awarded the former employee $143,000 in notice period damages.

Solicitor-Client Costs

As the court stated, solicitor-client costs are or special costs "are intended to more closely represent a party's actual legal costs" (para 41). In the case, the court awarded solicitor-client costs on two basis:  read more »

The table below contains a comprehensive list of the upcoming workplace law (employment, labour, human rights, pensions, privacy and immigration) conferences in Canada in 2011. The full names of the service providers, and links to their sites, are at the bottom of the page.

 read more »

The Manitoba government has introduced changes to the Workplace, Safety and Health Regulation to protect workers from psychological harassment. The changes will come into force effective February 1, 2011.

According to the government's October 21, 2010 news release and an October 2010 Manitoba SafeWork bulletin (No. 275):

• Employers must develop a written policy to prevent harassment in the workplace and must make sure that workers follow this policy. In developing the policy, employers must consult the workplace safety and health committee or representative. If there is no committee or representative, the workers must be consulted.

• "harassment" is defined as:

  (a) objectionable conduct that creates a risk to the health of a worker

or

Knights of Columbus v. Claude Boisjoli, Case NO. 397/08/ESC (decision issued June 23, 2010) 

In an April 2009 post, I reported on the pending legislation in Ontario - Bill 37 - which will amend the Child and Family Services Act (Ontario) and imposes a positive obligation on any person in Ontario, including employers and employees, to report child pornography.

An article in the May 3, 2010 edition of the Canadian HR Reporter - which recently landed on my desk - points out that Ontario is just one of four Canadian provinces to take action in this regard. To summarize from the article (and other sources):  read more »

Bill 227 received Royal Assent today. It amends the Manitoba Employment Standards Code to provide for an unpaid leave of absence for employees who undergo surgery for organ donation.

A news release issued today by the Manitoba government notes that it is only the second jurisdiction in Canada to adopt such legislation.

The Manitoba government has also prepared an "Organ Donor Leave" publication which explains the amendments. 

Does the Ontario Human Rights Code ("OHRC") protect employees charged with a criminal offence? The answer is "no" based on a series of decisions by the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal ("OHRT") over the last year.

Ontario Human Rights Code

The OHRC prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of an employee's "record of offences". The OHRC states that "record of offences" means a conviction for:

(a) an offence in respect of which a pardon has been granted under the Criminal Records Act (Canada) and has not been revoked, or

(b) an offence in respect of any provincial enactment.

Decision in de Pelham v. Mytrak Health Systems Inc.

In a February 2009 decision, de Pelham v. Mytrak Health Systems Inc. 2009 HRTO 172 (CanLII), the chair of the OHRT ruled that the "record of offences" provisions do not encompass criminal charges. Specifically, he stated:  read more »

Here is a partial list of upcoming labour law, employment law and human rights law  conferences in Western Canada/the Pacific Northwest:

March 2010

17-18:    2010 Vancouver Human Rights and Accommodation Conference, (Lancaster House)

18:        Legal Symposium: Developing Your Employment Law Knowledge, Surrey, BC  (BCHRMA)

April 2010

14-15:   The 2010 Accommodation Conference, Regina, SK (labourlawonline.ca)

20:        IPM Vancouver One Day Conference (Institute of Professional Management)

28-29:   The 2010 Accommodation Conference, Edmonton, AB (labourlawonline.ca)  read more »

Lawyer Brian Bowman and articling student Andrew Buck, at Pitblado LLP in Winnipeg, prepared "Monitoring employee e-mail: a privacy primer" for the December 2009 CBA National Privacy and Access Law Section Newsletter. The article focuses largely on the  federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.