Canadian Employment Law Today - sample

PM40065782 Emplo y ment Law Today Canad ad a ian www.employmentlawtoday.com December 6, 2017 Dismissed worker fails in 'double-dipping' civil suit BY JEFFREY R. SMITH A BRITISH COLUMBIA worker who won pay in lieu of notice for her accidental ter- mination of employment has failed in her at- tempt to win further damages in a civil suit. Tammy Kay Hall was hired by Labour Ready Temporary Services, a U.S.-based employment agency with offi ces in Vancou- ver and other B.C. cities, in March 2006. Her position was customer service representa- tive and she signed an employment contract that stipulated if she was dismissed without cause, she was entitled to no more than no- tice or pay in lieu of notice set out in "the ap- plicable employment standards legislation." In August 2006, Hall was promoted to branch manager and signed another em- ployment contract with the same termina- tion clause. Hall's tenure with Labour Ready contin- ued without any major problems for the next few years. However, in March 2014, Hall requested a medical leave of absence. She had been injured in a motor vehicle accident two years earlier and she was scheduled for surgery on March 28. Her surgery was post- poned, so Hall continued to work until May 24, when she fi nally took medical leave. Hall remained on medical leave for more than a year. In April 2015, about 11 months after she had gone off work, there was a mis- understanding and Labour Ready believed Hall had resigned from her employment. e company proceeded with its normal ad- ministrative steps to end Hall's employment. When Hall learned of the mistake, she contacted the company and said she hadn't intended to resign and wanted to remain an employee. Labour Ready apologized and im- mediately reinstated her to active employ- ment eff ective April 28, 2015. However, Hall was displeased about the mistake and fi led a complaint with the B.C. Employment Standards Branch, saying she had been dismissed without cause and had not been provided with the proper notice of termination or pay in lieu of notice to Manager's assumption leads to age discrimination Worker wanted cash incentive for giving her job to downsized employee, but manager thought her retirement was imminent BY JEFFREY R. SMITH A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT employee has been awarded $25,000 for age discrimi- nation after she was denied a chance to take advantage of a retirement incentive by giving her job to another employee under a work- force adjustment directive. Diane Legros, 67, worked as a senior poli- cy analyst for the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA). In the federal public ser- vice since 1989, Legros joined CBSA in 2011 through a staffi ng process. In the 2011-2012 fi scal year, the federal government implemented a defi cit reduc- tion action plan, which required all public service agencies to reduce staff and govern- ment spending. Part of the plan involved a "workforce adjustment directive" to maxi- mize employment opportunities for any public servants who wanted to remain in the CREDIT: GUSTAVO FRAZAO/SHUTTERSTOCK No reprisal in fi ring of probationary employee pg. 3 Employee made harassment complaint, but employer was already questioning her ability Reducing the risk of impaired employees pg. 4 Occupational health nurses can help employers deal with legal and safety issues from employee impairment with Brian Johnston MANAGER on page 6 » DISCRIMINATION on page 7 » ASK AN EXPERT pg. 2 Allowing for changes in employee`s duties

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