Articles.
Say Goodbye to Doctors’ Notes for Short-Term Absences
My recent article - “Will B.C. Soon Be Saying R.I.P. to the Doctor’s Note?”, https://bit.ly/4jTjfY4 - predicted that our provincial government would amend the Employment Standards Act (ES...
A Layoff Is A Layoff… Except When It Isn’t
I have (as have, I imagine, all employment lawyers) been asked by employer clients over the years, “If an employee requests a layoff, does it still count as a layoff?” My answer has always been, “A layoff is a layoff is a l...
If It Quacks Like A Duck…
Like most employment lawyers, I have numerous charitable organizations as clients. As well as having paid employees, such organizations rely heavily on volunteers to advance their worthy objectives in the community. They also depen...
Why Not Kill Two Birds With One Stone?
I’m a big fan of doing less whenever possible. In the legal context, that can be a winning strategy in certain situations; one of those is the hiring of employees. Many employers are in the habit of using a two-step approach ...
The High Price of Enticement
I’ve previously written on the topic of the common law “reasonable working notice” entitlements of short-service employees. Suffice to say, most employers are taken aback to learn that terminated employees who had only been...
B.C. Resolves an Age-Old Debate
For as long as I’ve been practicing employment law, my #1 piece of advice to employers has been, “Use proper employment agreements”. It’s simple advice which, sadly, still has not penetrated much of the employer commu...
Will B.C. Soon be Saying “R.I.P.” to the Doctor’s Note?
Recent media reports indicate that, as part of a suite of changes intended to free up doctors’ time, Ontario employers will no longer be permitted to demand a doctor’s note to substantiate an employee’...
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of Workplace Theft
"If you work for a living, why do you kill yourself working?” “Tuco”, in The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly ...