Suzanne Desrosiers Professional Corporation

Board members have legal responsibilities. If a board is not acting properly, the board and its members can face legal consequences. This can be stressful for new and young board members who took on the role to advocate for how they would like to see their organization proceed into the future but get confused by the legislated process. My firm can help board meetings run more smoothly, through our board governance training. This training explains the board’s duties to their corporation. We also provide helpful tips to help your board meetings run more smoothly. Our board governance training is offered either in person or online, through Zoom, with a lawyer that can answer your questions on the material presented. On a practical basis, it is best to ensure that your board gets training after each election. That allows new members to learn about their responsibilities and ensure that the returning board members are reminded of their responsibilities. #Lawyer #Board #BoardResponsibilities #BoardMeetings

All employees should be treated equally. No employee should be treated differently because of their race, creed, gender, etc. Employers have an obligation to follow the applicable human rights legislation. Human rights legislation state that employers cannot discriminate employees at work. If an employer discriminates an employee, the employer could face a human rights lawsuit. Often employers do not intend to discriminate. They could be trying to manage workflow but not realize that the way that they are doing it is affecting an employee’s human rights. Further, an employer can be liable for a manager discriminating an employee. Therefore, an employer should take any allegation of discrimination seriously. My team at Suzanne Desrosiers Professional Corporation can help employers with their human rights concerns. We can advise employers how to address their human rights concerns. Our employment lawyers can help employers respond to a human rights tribunal complaint. We also have experienced workplace investigators who can investigate allegations of discrimination. In short, my team can help address all of your workplace human rights concerns. #lawyer #EmploymentLawyer #HumanRights #WorkplaceInvestigation #Discrimination 

All employees have the right to be treated equally in the workplace regardless of their background. This is a key principle of human rights law. However, divisions can arise in the workplace. Unfortunately, some people will use slurs in the workplace, especially when in conflict. These slurs can put both the employee that used them and the employer liable to damages for discrimination. There is a difference between using a slur and using an offensive word without malice. A person is only liable when they use words that are connected to the other employee’s protected human rights ground in a way that treats them differently from the rest of the workplace. The use of slurs in the workplace can create a toxic workplace where it is hard to retain employees. At Suzanne Desrosiers Professional Corporation, we offer human rights training that can make both employees and employers aware of their human rights obligations at work. This training can help prevent the risk of unintentional discrimination in the workplace. My firm can also help employers and employees make or respond to a human rights complaint. #lawyer #HumanRights #SlursAtWork 

All employment contracts come with the implied term that the employer will provide employees with work to do. However, sometimes business is slow, or something unexpected affects your business’ ability to operate. Both the Canada Labour Code and the Employment Standards Act takes that risk into consideration by permitting temporary layoffs. Where most employers make a mistake is assuming that they can just layoff employees and call them back when there is work for them to do again. Recent court decisions have made it clear that you cannot layoff an employee without an express layoff term in their employment contract. The layoff term must also comply with the limits of the applicable employment legislation. My team at Suzanne Desrosiers Professional Corporation can help you with layoffs. We can draft employment contracts that include a layoff provision. We can also help advise employers before they put an employee on a layoff to ensure that they are following the law. #lawyer #layoffs #EmploymentContracts 

Suzanne Desrosiers Professional Corporation would like to thank Melissa Blackned, Indigenous Cross-Cultural Competency Coordinator with Mushkegowuk Council and Elder Madelaine Kioke for facilitating meaningful discussions with our members as we work to improve Indigenous relations within the Treaty 9 Territory.

Right to Refuse Unsafe Work In Ontario, there is a legislation called the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA), which addresses the prevention of injury and disease in Provincially regulated workplaces. Under this legislation employers have the duty to provide a safe workplace and the employees have a duty to take reasonable care in the workplace to protect their health and safety and those of coworkers. Employers must also provide employees with information on known workplace hazards, and employees must report to the employer any hazard of which they become aware. The OHSA requires representatives and joint committees to monitor the workplace and guarantees employees the right to refuse unsafe work. The Canada Labour Code (CLC) contains similar provisions for employers and employees that working in Federally regulated workplaces. If the worker feels like any equipment, machine, device or thing being used or operated is likely to endanger themselves or another worker, the physical condition of the workplace is likely to endanger themselves, or if there is workplace violence that is likely to endanger themselves, they will have to follow a procedure to achieve a lawful work refusal. There are, however, certain classes of workers, such as police officers and firefighters, who are not entitled to the right to refuse unsafe work, due to inherent dangers associated with the job description. If you are an employer or an employee working in a Federally or Provincially regulated workplace and have questions about the OHSA or the CLC and how it applies to you, please feel free to reach out to Suzanne Desrosiers Professional Corporation and to visit our website to read the full blog on Right to Refuse Unsafe Work https://lnkd.in/gR7R2nVK #Lawyer #RightToRefuseUnsafeWork #HealthAndSafety #legislation

Slurs at the workplace All employees have the right to be treated equally in the workplace regardless of their background. This is a key principle of human rights law. However, divisions can arise in the workplace. Unfortunately, some people will use slurs in the workplace, especially when in conflict. These slurs can put both the employee that used them and the employer liable to damages for discrimination. There is a difference between using a slur and using an offensive word without malice. A person is only liable when they use words that are connected to the other employee’s protected human rights ground in a way that treats them differently from the rest of the workplace. The use of slurs in the workplace can create a toxic workplace where it is hard to retain employees. At Suzanne Desrosiers Professional Corporation, we offer human rights training that can make both employees and employers aware of their human rights obligations at work. This training can help prevent the risk of unintentional discrimination in the workplace. My firm can also help employers and employees make or respond to a human rights complaint. #lawyer #HumanRights #SlursAtWork #training

Short-termed employees Short-termed employees may be entitled to a more substantive common law notice period. This is based on the principle that it can be difficult for employees to explain why they were terminated so shortly after being hired, even if they are not at fault for the termination. A recent example of a short-termed employee getting a longer notice period is found in the case of Grimaldi v CF+D Custom Fireplace Design Inc. In that case, the employee was awarded five months and two weeks of notice despite only working for the employer for 4 months and 23 days. There were other factors in this case that lengthened the employee's entitlement to a longer notice. However, the case should serve as a notice to employees and employers to always speak with employment lawyer when it comes to termination. At Suzanne Desrosiers Professional Corporation, we have lawyers with years of experience in employment law and wrongful dismissal claims. If you are an employer who is looking to terminate an employee or an employee who recently lost your job for whatever reason, you should contact our office. You can either call us at 705-268-6492 or email us at info@sdlawtimmins.com. #employmentlaw #wrongfultermination #lawyers

Progressive Discipline Progressive discipline is the concept that an employer can use progressively increased discipline to try to correct an employee's misbehaviour. The progressive discipline approach that an employer will take is usually found within their workplace policies. Typically, progressive discipline progresses from a verbal warning to a written warning to a suspension, before ending with a termination. These steps could be repeated or skipped depending on the severity of the misconduct. However, the core idea is to let the employee know that they are at risk of losing their job if they cannot correct their misbehaviour. We saw the successful application of progressive discipline in the case of Pirani v. CIBC. In that case, the employee was given two written warnings and coaching to help her with no longer breaching CIBC’s workplace policies before her termination. The court found that CIBC was able to show a pattern of misconduct that the court deemed incompatible with the employee’s duties. Therefore, CIBC was justified in terminating the employee on a for cause basis, meaning that they did not have to provide any pay in lieu of notice. If you want to learn more about progressive discipline, you should get in contact with us. At Suzanne Desrosiers we have employment lawyers who understand progressive discipline and can help you at whatever stage you are at. We also provide progressive discipline training for management and HR departments. To learn more about progressive discipline, please call us at 705-268-6492 or email us at info@sdlawtimmins.com. #progressivediscipline #training #management #lawyers

Frustration of an employment contract Frustration of the contract is an employment law principle which invalidates a contract when the current job obligations are radically different from what the parties contemplated when the employee was hired. The ability to make this argument is rare. It is also hard to prove a radical change that frustrates an employment contract. That is perhaps why we see many claims that the contract was frustrated fail in court. Recently, in Aldergrove Duty Free Shop Ltd. v MacCallum, (2024 BCCA 28) an employer was unsuccessful at appealing the finding that the contract was not frustrated. In that case, the employer, a duty-free store at the Canada-US border claimed that the employee’s contract was frustrated when the border was closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Court of Appeal upheld the trial judge's decision that the contract was not frustrated, as the employee was still doing the same duties, it was just that the employer had a reduced customer base. At Suzanne Desrosiers Professional Corporation, we have experienced employment lawyers who understand when an employment contract truly becomes frustrated. You should contact us if you are an employer considering terminating an employment contract due to frustration or if you are an employee who got fired because their employer claimed that their employment contract is frustrated. You can either call us at 705-268-6492 or email us at info@sdlawtimmins.com. #contracts #employmentlaw #lawyer #employmentcontracts