Canadian Employment Law Today

April 3, 2019

Focuses on human resources law from a business perspective, featuring news and cases from the courts, in-depth articles on legal trends and insights from top employment lawyers across Canada.

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PM40065782 Emplo y ment Law Today Canad ad a ian www.employmentlawtoday.com Harassment of female co-worker warrants fi ring of 3 male CN employees 'Mobbing' behaviour of 3 male workers at female co-worker on track maintenance crew beyond 'boys will be boys' justifi cation: Arbitrator BY JEFFREY R. SMITH AN ARBITRATOR has upheld the fi ring of three male Canadian National Railway workers who harassed and bullied the lone female worker on their crew. Carol omas was a track maintenance employee for Canadian National Railway Company (CN) in Saskatchewan. In May 2017, omas returned to work after being away on medical leave for nine months. She was assigned to a railway track crew that in- cluded track foreman Christian Hydemaka, assistant track foreman Michael Siebeneich, and machine operator Joel Hrycyk. Soon after she joined the crew, omas was in a truck driven by Siebeneich on the way to a worksite. During the drive, Siebe- neich was on his cellphone texting and us- ing social media while expressing anger at his job and co-workers. omas was wor- ried about him texting and driving, but was afraid to say anything to him because he was already angry. Workplace harassment: e fi ght continues Harassment still a problem, hurting employers' ability to attract and retain talent; Increased vigilance and proactive measures are helping BY LAURA WILLIAMS EVEN IF WE haven't experienced the be- haviour fi rst-hand ourselves, most of us have heard stories about a colleague who was 'tough' to work with back in the day — maybe even a little unhinged. ey may recount stories of a manager from whom they would regularly receive verbal abuse, or even threats of termination. Maybe it was an irate co-worker who would threaten colleagues with violence from time to time, or another who took it upon herself to make 'undesirable' colleagues feel uncom- fortable in the workplace just long enough that they'd eventually quit. While it's comforting to think of these as quaint anecdotes of a time gone by, ex- amples of these types of behaviours are still common. Needless to say, organizations are struggling to quell harassment in all forms. According to a Statistics Canada study re- leased in December, 19 per cent of women and 13 per cent of men report being ha- rassed in the workplace over the past year. Verbal abuse was the most common form of April 3, 2019 Employment in the AI era: The constructive dismissal problem pg. 3 Changing roles due to automation without proper notice or preparation could create constructive dismissal liability Employees fi red for improper expense reports get big damage awards pg. 4 New executive director suspicious of business trip TALL POPPY on page 6 » WORKERS' on page 7 » CREDIT: ANTONIO GUILLEM/SHUTTERSTOCK with Tim Mitchell Ask the Expert pg. 2 Bad-faith dismissal with generous severance

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