Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER MAY 2019 26 INSIGHT OOPS, DIDN'T MEAN THAT HOUSTON, TEXAS — We all have days where we make a mis- take at work, and one Houston civil court judge found that out the hard way in April when he acci- dentally resigned, according to the Washington Post. William McLeod went online to announce he'd run for the Supreme Court in Texas, saying he wanted to "make a dif- ference." However, he inadvertent- ly violated the state's constitution which considers any declaration of candidates for another offi ce an automatic abdication of the cur- rent position. "I messed up," said McLeod. " e mistake was it was an archaic 180-page document that I did not know contained this particular provision. I guess I did not scour everything that could possibly disrupt a run." After real- izing his error, McLeod retracted the announcement, saying he'd rather stay on as county judge. But the attorney's offi ce has told him there's no going back. TENSIONS RISE PALO ALTO, CALIF. — A woman who berated an elderly man for wearing a MAGA ("Make Ameri- ca Great Again") hat in a Starbucks recently lost her job over the inci- dent. Rebecca Parker Mankey, an accountant, confronted the man both inside and outside the cof- fee shop, and then posted photos of him on Facebook, according to CBS in San Francisco. She said she was going to shame him, get him fi red and kicked out of clubs. " is crazy woman came over and started raving at me. She turned to the rest of Starbucks and said, 'Hey everybody, here's this racist over here. He hates brown people, he's crazy, he's a Nazi,' and so forth," said Trump supporter Victor F. e 74-year-old man is Jewish and wears a yarmulke underneath his MAGA hat. In the end, people started angrily messaging Parker Mankey's family and her employer, Gryphone Stringed Instruments, so she was fi red. "We feel that mu- sic is what brings people together. So having someone then making comments that are so divisive is not consistent with our values," said store owner Richard Johnston. WHAT A WASTE SAN ANTONIO — It happened more than two years ago, but is still hard to forget: A San Antonio of- fi cer was accused of trying to give a homeless man a sandwich con- taining dog feces. Matthew Luck- hurst told another police offi cer what he did, and he was reported to supervisors. It was a "vile and disgusting act," said police chief William McManus. e off ending offi cer was subsequently fi red but an arbitrator later overturned the dismissal, saying Luckhurst wasn't punished within the required 180 days of the alleged incident. e arbitrator also cited a lack of evi- dence that it happened at all. Luck- hurst remains on an indefinite suspension for another incident involving feces — after bragging he and another offi cer left a mess in a women's washroom. DRUG-INDUCING MATSUYAMA, JAPAN — A pharmaceutical professor took his expertise a bit too far, according to police in Japan, after he admitted to having students and an associ- ate professor produce an illegal drug. Tatsunori Iwamura, 61, a professor at Matsuyama Univer- sity, apparently instructed his col- league and four students, at two separate times over several years, to produce MDMA or methyl en- edioxy methamphetamine. It is of- ten used to create the recreational drug known as ecstasy and molly. Iwamura told investigators he did so to help his students' "learning," according to the Japan Times, but the school said it would be tak- ing disciplinary action. "We sin- cerely apologize for causing ma- jor concern to students and their parents," said Tatsuya Mizogami, president of the university. Based on the country's narcotics control law, a researcher must obtain a licence issued by the government to make such drugs for academic research — and Iwamura's licence had expired. A LITTLE DISTRACTED NAIROBI — Several police offi cers in Nairobi recently let their enthu- siasm for soccer get the best of them. When the quarter-fi nals for the Championships League by the Union of European Football Association (UEFA) were on, the offi cers decided to shut down the Kamorwon police post, according to Reuters. eir quest? A TV to watch the game, which they found at a nearby shopping mall. However, the offi cers' absence al- lowed thieves to raid the post and steal three rifl es and ammunition. While other offi cers were "mobilized to swing into action," it's not clear whether the soccer fans were disciplined for their actions. Credit: pingebat (Shutterstock) W EIRD ORKPLACE THE Vol. 32 No. 5 – May 2019 PUBLISHED BY HAB Press, a subsidiary of Key Media 312 Adelaide Street West Suite 800 Toronto, ON M5V 1R2 ©Copyright 2019 by HAB Press Ltd. All rights reserved. CANADIAN HR REPORTER is published 12 times a year. Publications Mail – Agreement # 40065782 Registration # 9496 – ISSN 0838-228X President: Tim Duce EDITORIAL Editor/Supervisor: Sarah Dobson - (416) 649-7896 sarah.dobson@habpress.ca News Editor Marcel Vander Wier - (416) 649-7837 marcel.vanderwier@habpress.ca Employment Law Editor: Jeffrey R. Smith - (416) 649-7881 jeffrey.r.smith@habpress.ca Labour Relations News Editor: John Dujay - (416) 298-5129 john.dujay@habpress.ca Web/IT Co-ordinator: Mina Patel - (416) 649-7879 mina.patel@habpress.ca ADVERTISING Sales Manager: Paul Burton - (416) 649-9928 paul.burton@habpress.ca MARKETING AND CIRCULATION Marketing Co-ordinator: Keith Fulford - (416) 649-9585 keith.fulford@habpress.ca PRODUCTION Art Director: Steve Maver SUBSCRIPTIONS Annual subscription: $175 (plus tax) GST/HST#: 70318 4911 RT0001 To subscribe, visit www.hrreporter.com. Address changes and returns: Send changes and undeliverable Canadian addresses to: SUBSCRIBER SERVICES Canadian HR Reporter One Corporate Plaza 2075 Kennedy Rd. Toronto, ON M1T 3V4 CUSTOMER SERVICE Call: (416) 609-3800 (Toronto) (800) 387-5164 (outside Toronto) Fax: (416) 298-5082 (Toronto) (877) 750-9041 (outside Toronto) Email: info@habpress.ca LETTERS TO THE EDITOR sarah.dobson@habpress.ca CHRR reserves the right to edit for length and clarity. Embracing a lesser-known option BY SARAH DOBSON A utism has been in the news of late in Ontario with the Doug Ford government announcing fund- ing changes to autism services. Currently, there are 23,000 chil- dren in the province on a wait list, waiting for support. at's a whole lot of potential employ- ees who are set to rise through the ranks in Ontario alone. And as of 2012, 83 per cent of all Canadian adults with autism reported no employment in- come, while just 14 per cent were employed, according to the most recent Statistics Canada data. ese stats are cited in Mar- cel Vander Wier's story on pg. 3 of this issue looking at job fairs held in British Columbia, Que- bec and Ontario for people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). e events make a lot of sense for employers like Scotiabank, IBM and Loblaws which are tailoring recruitment eff orts to reach this valuable candidate pool. "We're in 2019. This is high time we start building programs to help inclusion within your or- ganizations," said Xavier Pinto, organizer of the job fairs and co- owner of Substance Cares in To- ronto. "At the end of the day, it will only add to your organization." And it's not like they're not skilled — 58 per cent graduated from high school, while 28 per cent had a post-secondary degree, according to a 2013 study of 480 individuals in Ontario with ASD by the University of Toronto and the Redpath Centre. Most commonly, these people had a diploma or certifi cate (12 per cent), followed by a bachelor's degree (12 per cent), and master's degree (three per cent). And their employment oppor- tunities are impressively varied, with 30 per cent working in sales and service occupations, while 15 per cent had jobs in business, fi - nance and administration. Four- teen per cent worked in arts, cul- ture, recreation and sport, while nine per cent were employed in education, law, social, community and government service. Sadly, just one in 10 HR profes- sionals focus on the concept of "neurodiversity" — the natural range of differences in human brain function — in their staffi ng eff orts, according to a 2018 survey by the Chartered Institute of Per- sonnel and Development in Lon- don, U.K. It released an employ- er's guide about tapping into the benefi ts of hiring workers who are neurodivergent, which includes people with autism, ADHD (at- tention defi cit hyperactivity dis- order), dyslexia and dyspraxia. Trying something new In the same vein, a recent study in Scientifi c Reports found 30 per cent of 188 patients in Israel with ASD who participated in a study saw "significant improvement" through the use of medical can- nabis, while 54 per cent found "moderate" improvement. ere's even a grassroots group based in Texas called MAMMA or Mothers Advocating Medical Marijuana for Autism looking to "empower parents to advocate for their child with autism." More than three million indi- viduals in the United States have autism, they say, but only a hand- ful have legal access to medical cannabis, so it's about changing state laws so children "have safe and legal access to this healing plant under a doctor's guidance." e one big challenge? e sci- ence in this area is still very new and limited. So, should employers off er an add-on medical cannabis plan in their benefi ts coverage? We hear from Aurora Cannabis on pg. 21 to get their take. "It is the right thing to do," says CHRO Debra Wilson. "Canna- bis use for medicinal purposes is changing people's lives and creat- ing better days… It's no diff erent than other prescription drugs." Looking ahead to the June is- sue of Canadian HR Reporter, be sure to watch for exclusive fea- tures covering HR tech, recogni- tion and background screening — along with our usual in-depth analysis of the latest HR-related issues and trends. Changes afoot By the way, exciting times are ahead for Canadian HR Reporter readers and partners. is publi- cation and its website and sister publications were recently ac- quired by HAB Press, part of the global Key Media group that has HR websites, events and maga- zines in Canada and the United States as well as Australia, New Zealand and the Asia-Pacifi c. So, stay tuned for a fresh, mod- ern, global approach to covering the world of HR. Sarah Dobson EDITOR'S NOTES "We're in 2019. is is high time we start building programs to help inclusion." a company

• Cover