In a November 3, 2011 post I reported that the Canadian Standards Association was commencing consultations on the development of a voluntary "National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace".

Two lawyers at Heenan Blaikie - Cheryl A. Edwards and  Shane Todd - have now published a detailed analysis of the standard that can be found here: "National Standard for Psychological Health and Safety in the Canadian Workplace Released".

The analysis was published the firm's January 24, 2012 OHS & Workers Compensation Management Update publication. 

Jean-Philippe Couture, a lawyer in the Borden Ladner Gervais (BLG) office in Calgary, has written an article entitled, "Canadian Tax Implications Of Hiring U.S. Contractors To Perform Work In Canada".

The article was published in BLG's Fall 2011 Labour and Employment Law News newsletter.

The Business Council of British Columbia has published an article entitled, "B.C. Human Rights Tribunal Changes – Will They Be Enough?" (September 2011) in its Human Capital Law and Policy publication.

The article was co-written by Thomas Roper, Q.C. and Jennifer Russell of the law firm Roper Greyell.

Among other issues, it addresses the "growing dissatisfaction within some segments of the employer community regarding the work of the [BC Human Rights] Tribunal" and the study undertaken last year by the British Columbia Law Institute, at the behest of the BC Ministry of Labour, of the merits of establishing a Workplace Tribunal for British Columbia that would adjudicate all employment related disputes. 

Lus Laboris has published a guide entitled, "Non-Compete Clauses: An International Guide" (May 2010).

As set out on their website , the lus Laboris alliance is comprised of member law firms in 42 countries, with coverage in more than 100 countries. Its specialisms include: individual employment contracts; collective redundancies; discrimination; expatriation; restructuring; compensation, benefits and tax; pensions; collective bargaining; workplace policies and handbooks; litigation and dispute resolution; and corporate social responsibility.

The Lus Laboris website describes the guide as follows:  read more »

"Restructuring Employee Benefits: Options and Restrictions" is the title of a paper written by Lisa Chamzuk, a lawyer at Lawson Lundell in Vancouver.

The paper was prepared for The Continuing Legal Education Society of British Columbia course on Pension & Benefits: Critical Issues and What's Often Overlooked held on May 25, 2011 in Vancouver, BC.

An overview of the paper states:  read more »

Murray Gold, a lawyer at Koskie Minsky in Ontario, has recently written a paper on "Pension Reform Current Issues"(April 2011). As set out in the Executive Summary, the paper:

• reviews Canada's retirement income system, and explains how it works;
• looks at the Old Age Security ("OAS"), the Guaranteed Income Supplement ("GIS"), the Canada Pension Plan ("CPP") and employment based pensions, and explains how they function and work together; and
• reviews the political parties' pension platforms in the 2011 election, and compares and evaluates them.  

Catherine Gagné, a lawyer at Blakes, has written an article entited, "Quebec Businesses Required to Make Pay-Equity Disclosure". The article was published in Blakes' April 2011 Labour & Employment Bulletin.

The article discusses the Règlement concernant la déclaration de l'employeur en matière d'équité salariale, which came into force on March 31, 2011 and which requires all Quebec businesses employing six (6) people or more and registered with Quebec's Enterprise Registrar to produce an annual declaration in respect of pay equity.

Anick Chainey wrote a paper entitled, "Workplace Violence And Psychological Harassment: An Overview Of The Quebec Experience".

Ms. Chainey is a lawyer at the "Commission des normes du travail", the body responsible for the implementation and application of the Labour Standards Act in the province of Quebec.

The paper was prepared for the National Administrative Law, Labour & Employment Law and Privacy & Access Law Conference held on November 26-27, 2010 in Ottawa.

It covers the following topics:

1) Overview of the applicable legislation in the context of workplace violence and harassment in Quebec

a) The Civil Code of Quebec

b) The Occupational health and safety legislatin

c) The Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms  read more »

Here are the three best resources I have found on the web that address the legal issues organizations in Canada should be aware of when engaging volunteers:

1. "Volunteers and The Law" (April 2007), prepared by David Stout and Loreen Irvine, lawyers at Nelligan O'Brien Payne in Ottawa;
2. "Volunteers & the law: A guide for volunteers, organizations and boards" (2000), prepared the People's Law School; and
3. "Volunteers" Employment Standards fact sheet, Government of Manitoba.

The National Employment Law Project is a US advocacy organization for employment rights of lower-wage workers, It has offices across the United States and a staff of lawyers, policy experts and researchers.

Of note to US employers, the Project recently published a "Criminal Background Checks: A Best Practices Guide" (March 17, 2011), which speaks to best practices in the US context.