Canadian Employment Law Today

May 29, 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 No ambiguity when contract provides more than statutory minimum Dismissed worker argued termination provision wasn't clear on exact severance entitlement, but it gave worker more than legal minimum BY JEFFREY R. SMITH A BRITISH COLUMBIA company's termi- nation provision wasn't ambiguous because it stated statutory minimums were the fl oor for severance payments and provided for a greater entitlement than the minimums anyway, the B.C. Supreme Court has ruled. Glenn Johnson, 60, was a software sales manager for IBM Canada based in Burnaby, B.C. He was hired in 2007 with duties man- aging three salespeople who sold, arranged fi nancing for, and serviced IBM products. He was also responsible for customer satis- faction, territory management, and control- ling business objectives. Johnson's employment with IBM was gov- erned by a written employment agreement that included a termination provision that stated if he was terminated without cause, "IBM will provide you with a separation al- lowance in lieu of notice equal to the greater of IBM's current separation practice (i.e. one week's notice/salary for every fully complet- ed six months of service up to 52 weeks' sal- ary) or three months of your annual salary." e clause went on to state that it included Homeless shelter w orker bent out of shape over fi nger bending Co-worker's statement was only evidence employee infl icted pain on shelter resident, but there was no reason not to believe it: Arbitrator BY JEFFREY R. SMITH AN ONTARIO homeless shelter worker's fi ring was not due to an unfortunate twist of fate, but rather a twist of a fi nger. A co-worker's account of the worker using unnecessary force — the aforementioned fi nger twist — on an unruly resident was suffi cient to provide just cause for dismissal, regardless of whether a visible injury on the resident's hand was caused by the event or a later incident, an Ontario arbitrator has found. Faizal Azimullah was employed as a client services worker at Seaton House, a home- less shelter in downtown Toronto. Azimul- lah's work was in the Annex Harm Reduc- tion Program, a 110-bed unit within Seaton House for chronically homeless who are also mostly alcoholics. e program provided a measured amount of alcohol for its residents rather than completely denying them as a May 29, 2019 Accommodation of medical cannabis not guaranteed pg. 3 Inability to measure impairment from medical cannabis can constitute undue hardship No discrimination against worker with disability who quit pg. 4 Employer implemented accommodation but worker became impatient and quit ACT on page 6 » CREDIT: MONKEY BUSINESS IMAGES/SHUTTERSTOCK Ask the Expert pg. 2 Legal action after denial of workers' compensation claim with Stuart Rudner SEVERANCE on page 7 »

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