Canadian Employment Law Today

December 4, 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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PM41261516 Emplo y ment Law Today Canadian www.employmentlawtoday.com The quandary of quick quits pg. 4 When employees don't provide adequate or reasonable notice of resignation, do employers have any recourse for any negative effects? Psychological health and safety complaint fails in Nova Scotia Worker's psychological harassment complaint not protected under Nova Scotia OHSA BY JEFFREY R. SMITH A NOVA SCOTIA worker who claimed that psychological harassment and violence at work put her health and safety at risk has lost her case because psychological harassment and violence aren't within the scope of the province's occupa- tional health and safety legislation. Annette Harpell was employed at a store run by Lawton's Drug Stores, a drug store chain in At- lantic Canada headquartered in Dartmouth, N.S. In October 2018, Harpell filed a complaint under the Nova Scotia Occupational Health and Safety Act and its Violence in the Workplace Regula- tions, alleging discriminatory action on the part of the employer. An occupational health and safety officer in- vestigated the complaint. Harpell told the officer that she had experienced "repeated bullying, ha- rassment, intimidation, and psychological vio- lence" from a senior co-worker who had a history of similar behaviour. She said she had reported to Lawton's management multiple times, but the company hadn't dealt with it appropriately. In ad- CIBC employee unjustly dismissed, but doesn't get job back Acrimonious work relationship with manager didn't warrant dismissal, but termination with compensation was reasonable solution: Federal Court BY JEFFREY R. SMITH THE CANADA Labour Code doesn't al- low unjust dismissal. When an employee is unjustly dismissed, that employee can usually expect to return to their job with compensation for any lost income. But, sometimes, things get so bad between the employee and the employer that reinstate- ment isn't a viable option — even if there wasn't just cause to fire the employee in the first place. George Kouridakis was hired by the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) in October 2000. Over the course of a 16-year career with the bank, Kouridakis held different positions and received mul- tiple certificates of appreciation, bonuses and pay increases for doing a good job. December 4, 2019 Just cause to cut the cable pg. 3 Series of meetings, reviews and warnings enough of an opportunity for worker to improve before he was fired for cause: adjudicator WORKER on page 6 » CREDIT: JHVEPHOTO SHUTTERSTOCK NOVA SCOTIA on page 7 » with Tim Mitchell Ask the Expert pg. 2 Requiring a terminated employee to seek legal advice before signing release

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