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Litigation Value: de minimus damage award (after spending $50,000 to “successfully” defend the lawsuit) He rarely disappoints, and this week was no different. Michael Scott was in rare form in this week’s issue of The Office, “The Lover” (or should this episode have been titled “The Mother Lover” for all you SNL fans). Michael revealed […]
A British Columbia Court of Appeal decision has worrisome implications for companies that control elements of the operations of subcontractors or franchisees. Although it was about a franchise situation in B.C., it could have repercussions in other provinces and other business relationships. What happened In 2005, there was a robbery of a Petro-Canada service station. […]
Tell me about yourself. What are your strengths? How about your weaknesses? Maybe those questions sound familiar. Maybe you hear the same phrases come out of your own mouth every time you conduct a job interview. And maybe you’re missing something. Mastering HR: Hiring Traditional vs. behavioral interviewing techniques If you’re frustrated by the lack […]
These days it seems like you can’t pick up a newspaper or log on to the Internet without reading another story about multimillion-dollar fraud. Just when we thought we’d heard the last of Enron, Tyco, and WorldCom, along comes Bernie Madoff. But fraud isn’t a problem only for Fortune 100 companies and millionaire investors. It […]
Litigation Value: Oscar’s damages–climbing; diversity and harassment training from a trained professional–$2,000; backing off the mafia–priceless. It’s a new episode of The Office that has Michael, Dwight, and Andy convinced that an insurance salesman is part of the mafia based on “his southern Italian heritage.” While it was entertaining for viewers to watch the trio (and Pat the Mechanic) […]
It has been just over a year since the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) issued its decision in Keays v. Honda Canada Inc. (Read our analysis of the court’s decision in that case). That decision mandated a change in Canadian courts’ approach to awarding damages in employment cases. Damages for bad faith conduct by the […]
by Jim Goh Behind efforts to assist organized labor and improve the balance between work and family, increasing workplace safety is a top priority for President Barack Obama and the 111th Congress. Both the President and congressional leaders have vowed more funding for the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) […]
Like most federal agencies, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is a large bureaucracy, housing many levels of subagencies and layers of employees with a host of titles that are unintelligible to outsiders. The DOL has recently decided to do a little streamlining by abolishing the umbrella agency that oversees four of its major units. […]
Litigation Value: $0 for Dunder-Mifflin (consider the bullets dodged for now), but I’d love to be the plaintiffs’ lawyer representing those poor souls who got ice from the machine in which Kevin stuck his formerly Kleenex-boxed feet I don’t normally cry at weddings, but I could see making an exception for the long-anticipated nuptials of […]
Should employees receive benefits coverage for time off due to cosmetic surgery? At least two Canadian labor arbitrators think so. In the most recent decision on point, North Bay General Hospital v. Ontario Nurses’ Assn. [2009] OLAA No. 47, 181 LAC (4th) 179 (Stephens), an employee was awarded sick pay coverage for time off while […]