Canadian Employment Law Today

PM40065782 Emplo y ment Law Today Canad ad a ian www.employmentlawtoday.com January 4, 2017 Toronto mayor talks tough on termination Can city employees be terminated for fraudulent drug claims? BY ANDREW BROWN A RECENT report by City of Toronto Auditor General Beverly Romeo-Beehler revealed millions of dollars paid out for al- legedly fraudulent drug claims submitted by City of Toronto employees. In response to the report, Mayor John Tory declared: "I would suggest that termination (is) an ap- propriate kind of penalty for that sort of thing because we cannot, in a circumstance where we're trustees of the public's money, allow it to (be) abused whether it's for Vi- agra or any other drug or any other purpose whatsoever." A bold statement, no doubt with the best of intentions. Serious misconduct should be met with serious consequences. Unfor- tunately, as many employers know, even serious misconduct such as fraud does not always result in termination for cause. Each case must be decided on its own merits, weighing a variety of factors. e audit report revealed a number of "red fl ags" relating to the way the city man- aged its extended health and dental benefi ts plan. For example, fi ve employees claimed more than $5,000 for sex-enhancing drugs in a single year, while 37 employees claimed more than $3,000. As well, 348 employees received multiple reimbursements for the same drugs, prescribed the same day by a variety of doctors. e concern is that em- ployees were defrauding the system to ob- tain large quantities of drugs to sell illegally to the public. Generally, to terminate an employee for just cause, an employer must demonstrate the employee either violated an essen- tial term of the employment contract or breached the good faith and loyalty inher- ent in an employment relationship. Bank employee's friendship not reason for dismissal Employee had joint account with customer and missed information in his mortgage application, but acted in good faith BY JEFFREY R. SMITH AN ADJUDICATOR has found the dis- missal of a bank employee for not reveal- ing her joint account with a friend and not following proper procedure for the friend's mortgage application to be unjust. Angela D'Onofrio began working for Scotiabank in a Montreal-area branch on Aug. 16, 2010. By 2015, she was working as a small business advisor trainee in Laval, Que. Her position required a signifi cant amount of independent work, so there was a high level of trust by the bank that she would do her job well and with honesty and integrity. Scotiabank had a series of guidelines for business conduct that all employees were expected to follow. D'Onofrio and all other employees were required to acknowl- edge every year that she had read and un- CREDIT: MARTIN GOOD/SHUTTERSTOCK MITIGATING on page 7 » EMPLOYEE on page 6 » Employer didn't know about dismissed worker's organizing efforts pg. 3 Probationary employee fi red for lateness Disability management programs: Challenges turned opportunities pg. 4 Formalization and integration key elements for an effective disability management program for organizations ASK AN EXPERT pg. 2 Levels of work stress with Tim Mitchell

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