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Financial Post: May 13, 2014. All Rights Reserved.
Many employers worry that if they fail to provide a dismissed employee with a deserved reference, additional damages could follow. That concern is not without warrant, but careful thought should go into writing that reference. Continue reading Avoid These Pitfalls When Writing a Reference for a Dismissed Employee
The battle to prove just cause doesn’t end with termination. Employers can rely on new grounds and win in court even if those grounds are discovered months, or even years, after the termination. But it requires doggedness and determination.
Shelly Harrigan demonstrated that tenacity and won. Continue reading Already Fired Someone? Evidence Found After Termination Can Still Pay Off
Norman Groot, LLB, CFE, CFI
Fraud, in its most basic form, is theft by lies and omissions. The losses suffered by fraud victims occur because fraudsters misrepresent facts to their victims, or they fail to advise their victims of material facts that would have affected their decision as to whether to part with their money.
When confronted, fraudsters often blame a fraud victim for not conducting due diligence as to the bona fides of their representations – arguing “buyer beware” or that they too were dupes of someone else’s misrepresentations. Fraudsters also often argue that their representations were not material, or were not relied upon by their victim before entering into the transaction at issue. Sometimes victims feel so embarrassed by what they can see in hindsight was a bad decision that they are inclined not to pursue recovery. Continue reading Why Fraud Victims Should Make an Election Before Pleading Negligence
Financial Post: January 27, 2014. All Rights Reserved.
Even when a dismissed employee lies on the witness stand, the employee may still come out ahead.
That’s the lesson Stelcrete Industries, and its owners Larry Cohen and his son, Steven, learned. Richard Ludchen began working at the company, which makes and assembles rebar, as a welder and rose to plant superintendent of the Welland, Ont. facility, supervising 16 staff. Continue reading Employers Should Not Rely on Hearsay to Prove Cause for Dismissal
Financial Post: January 14, 2014. All Rights Reserved.
I was gobsmacked when I heard that on behalf of Ontario’s doctors Scott Wooder, president of the Ontario Medical Association, had declared that employers should no longer be able to ask employees for sick notes.
My initial presumption was he was either being misquoted or was making an early bid for the most idiotic comment of 2014. But then the Nova Scotia Medical Association chimed in, agreeing with him. Continue reading No More Doctors’ Notes Will Cause Big Headaches For Employers
Financial Post: December 17, 2013. All Rights Reserved.
Here is Howard’s year-end wrap up of the major employment law developments of 2013: Continue reading Five Big Developments In Employment Law In 2013
Financial Post: October 22, 2013. All Rights Reserved.
In my experience as an employment lawyer on the management side, outside of the movies, workers who sleep at their desks, or who retroactively alter their records, charging their employer thousands of dollars in false expenses usually lose their jobs. Continue reading When Does the Law Apply to the Public Sector?
Financial Post: October 1, 2013. All Rights Reserved.
Two employees, Michael Mosey and Eileen Tremblay, have commenced a well-publicized, but potentially ill-fated, lawsuit against the Ontario Ministry of Labour, claiming it misled them as to their severance entitlement. Continue reading Company’s Insolvency Turns Good Case into No Case Against Labour Ministry
Jeff Gray and Janet McFarland
The Globe and Mail
Published Saturday, Aug. 24 2013, 8:00 AM EDT
Last updated Saturday, Aug. 24 2013, 4:53 PM ED
Norman Hawe, 78, and his wife, Georgette, 84, have spent their retirement volunteering with the Salvation Army, travelling the world to feed the poor and build homes and churches. Mr. Hawe, a carpenter who also worked on the blast furnaces in Hamilton’s steel mills, specializes in constructing giant wooden crosses.
An engaging story teller with a booming laugh, he becomes more soft spoken when he recounts the events that wiped out his and Georgette’s retirement savings. In 2007, Mr. Hawe learned that he had sunk $450,000 in what turned out to be an illegal scheme in which investors were told their money was placed in a portfolio of mortgages. The funds were actually diverted for other uses, a financial trap that forced the couple to sell their house. Continue reading Crime Without Punishment: Canada’s Investment Fraud Problem
Norman Groot, LLB, CFE, CFI
Investigation Counsel PC
On August 24, 2013, the Globe and Mail published an article entitled: Crime Without Punishment: Canada’s Investment Fraud Problem by Jeff Gray & Janet McFarland. In the article, forensic accountant Greg Draper of MNP LLP, a former RCMP investigator, is quoted as stating that often “fraud cases can be hard for police because it is not always clear whether someone is a victim of a fraud or a reckless investor … When things are everybody’s responsibility, sometimes they become nobody’s responsibility.” The article goes on to say that often fraud victims are reluctant to come forward because they are so embarrassed they can’t bring themselves to tell others or report it to police. Continue reading Fraud Victim or Reckless Investor?: Our Response to Blaming the Victim
