Articles of Interest – Page 11

Stealing? Charges Are Just the Start

A 2004 study found an astounding 79% of employees admit to stealing or considering doing so from their employers. One in five has already done so by providing inflated expense accounts, cooking the books or pocketing money from cash sales. From purloined paperclips to the more audacious embezzlement of corporate funds, Canadian employers lose more than $120-billion a year to employee theft — a problem identified as the cause of 30% of business failures. Continue reading Stealing? Charges Are Just the Start

If Your Lawyer’s Advice Is to Threaten Your Employer to Get a Severance, Think Twice

Did you know that in some circumstances your lawyer’s advice can get you fired? Many lawyers and employees jockey for position by making extravagant demands in a letter, while still employed. They do so at their peril. While such a letter is meant to strengthen an employee’s legal position, it could well be cause for dismissal. Continue reading If Your Lawyer’s Advice Is to Threaten Your Employer to Get a Severance, Think Twice

Employee Must Prove Disability

The times, they are a’changing
— Bob Dylan, 1964

It is frustrating. Employers with solid defences ceding defeat, exclaiming the courts are too pro-employee to receive a fair hearing. Part of this timorousness is the by-product of overly cautious lawyers or ones with little trial experience, training, and in turn, a generation of human resource managers on overstated risks of litigation. Another factor is the increasing role played by mediation and the resulting ubiquitous view that any settlement is better then an imposed decision. In my experience, the reverse is true. There is nothing like a courtroom win to remind employees Continue reading Employee Must Prove Disability

Employers Too Often Pay for Stress: Firm but Not Unfair, Court Finds

Lawyers retained by damaged or troubled employees too often issue lawsuits without analyzing whether any legal wrong was committed by the employer. Increasingly, we are seeing claims issued by the more left wing members of my bar based on disability, gender and other forms of purported discrimination, which should be more vigorously defended than they are now. A sympathetic employee and real damages do not equate to a successful lawsuit and employers should be rigorous in analyzing their legal liability. Continue reading Employers Too Often Pay for Stress: Firm but Not Unfair, Court Finds

Supreme Court Makes an Impact: Honda Within Its Right to Listen to Its Own Doctors

In Canadian legal history, there have been only 11 Supreme Court of Canada cases in non-union employment law. When that court writes a decision, it intends it to make an impact. The recent decision in Keays v. Honda Canada does, although its significance has been grossly mischaracterized and misunderstood: Keays was peridocially absent with chronic fatigue syndrome for several years. Honda, noting that his doctor’s notes were becoming increasingly limited, ordered him to see its specialist. It warned failure to do so would result in dismissal. On the advice of legal counsel, Keays demanded to know “the purpose, methodology and parameters of the assessment.” When he persisted in refusing the assessment, Honda fired him. Continue reading Supreme Court Makes an Impact: Honda Within Its Right to Listen to Its Own Doctors

Shuffling Manager Could Be Seen as Dismissal: Profit Losses Don’t Justify Drastic Demotion

Frank Power knew his career at Unique Chrysler Plymouth was drawing to a close when he was shuffled into an office that was last used for storage. Power was the dealership’s general manager, in charge of the entire operations. But Sandy Calder, Unique’s owner, decided to take matters into his own hands when the business’s finances became unstable, and profits were inconsistent. Continue reading Shuffling Manager Could Be Seen as Dismissal: Profit Losses Don’t Justify Drastic Demotion

Employers Can Resist Poor Work Habits

The entitlement state is alive and well on the other side of the Atlantic. Writing from abroad, I can report that subsidization of indolence, restricted hours of work and punitive taxation, pervades the economies of western and central Europe. And Canada isn’t far behind, thanks to a deteriorating work ethic and the debate here, which focus on work-life balance, sensitivity and emotional quotient. Continue reading Employers Can Resist Poor Work Habits

Why Not to Let Conflicts Get out of Hand

Duke Defaria assumed after being insulted and fired that his ordeal was over. He never expected his boss to threaten to “kick the guts out of him” and then deny he had been dismissed. Continue reading Why Not to Let Conflicts Get out of Hand

The Fine Art of Saying, You’re Fired

Shirley believed she was doing Sam a favour when she fired him. Concerned that he would repeat his mistakes in his next job, she calmly detailed all of the reasons for his dismissal and offered advice to prevent those problems’ recurrence. Sam took it well, requesting clarification on some points and agreeing with others. Continue reading The Fine Art of Saying, You’re Fired

Changing an Employees Status Has Consequences: Steadily Eroding Someone’s Job Can Land You in Court

With the chief executive as his brother, Norman Miller was confident he had job security. But returning from lunch one day, he was shocked to discover that his desk had vanished. It was his brother’s doing. Continue reading Changing an Employees Status Has Consequences: Steadily Eroding Someone’s Job Can Land You in Court