Canadian Employment Law Today

November 27, 2013 Complainants were against senior, tenured staff of university ...continued from page 1 authority where the harassers could potentially affect the terms and conditions of employment of anyone in the faculty, as well as a prohibition from holding any such position for a minimum of five years. • Mandatory sensitivity, harassment and conflict resolution training for all the harassers. The tribunal noted that, although the complainants often felt like they were being treated inappropriately, at the time they did not have specific knowledge or proof of the extent of the ulterior motives and mistreatment. This meant their concerns were not easily articulated and also would not have been reasonably apparent to a third party. which they objected was found to be unlawful and poisonous to the workplace. The tribunal's decision highlights that triers of fact will scrutinize allegations and the context around them very carefully in order to determine whether harassment and a poisoned work environment exists, and serious steps will be taken and penalties imposed where necessary to prevent the harassment from continuing. While McMaster University was also named as a respondent, the tribunal found that the university had not engaged in harassment or malicious behavior and it reacted to the alleged harassment as issues arose. The university took steps to address harassment in the workplace to prevent such harassment from occurring again, ASK AN EXPERT requirement cannot be inferred. This is particularly so if the collective agreement has specifically addressed other situations in which an employee will be reimbursed for costs incurred by the employee, but remains silent regarding reimbursement of costs associated with obtaining the medical certificate when required for a medical absence. Similarly, in a non-unionized work environment, in the absence of any employer policy or procedure in the workplace which makes the employer liable to reimburse the employee for the costs associated with obtaining a medical certificate, the burden of the 6 ABOUT THE AUTHOR Sarah Vokey Sarah Vokey is an employment lawyer with Robinson Heeney LLP in Toronto, focusing exclusively on representing employers and employees in all areas of employment law as well as conducting workplace investigations. She can be reached at (416) 646-5169 or svokey@robinsonheeney.com. Interested in learning more about employment law issues directly from the experts? Check out the Carswell Professional Development Centre's live and on-demand webinars discussing topics such as family status accommodation, young workers and the law, gender expression and identity in the workplace, best hiring practices, social media in the workplace, and accommodation persons with disabilities. To view the webinar catalogue, visit cpd.centre.ca/hreporter. expense will employee. likely fall to the CELT ...continued from page 2 CELT WEBINARS Workplace harassment taken seriously It is definitely not an easy task to stand up to harassment and bullying in the workplace, especially against those people who are in a position of power. The complainants in this case stood up to the harassment and bullying against them by colleagues who were in much senior positions, and the conduct to leading the tribunal to forego any decision against it as an employer. For more information see: v. Ericatel Ltd., 1998 CarswellBC 1273 (B.C. S.C.). IWiebe v. Central Transport RefrigeraIBoulé tion (Man.) Ltd., 1994 CarswellMan 130 (Man. C.A.). Brian Kenny is a partner with MacPherson Leslie and Tyerman LLP in Regina. He can be reached at (306) 347-8421 or bkenny@mlt.com. Employment law blog Canadian Employment Law Today invites you to check out its employment law blog, where editor Jeffrey R. Smith discusses recent cases and developments in employment law. The blog includes a tool for readers to offer their comments, so discussion is welcome and encouraged. The blog features more discussion of the topic covered on page 3, the skimming of gratuities, along with other recent topics such as constructive dismissal, non-competition clauses, the obligations of both sides in accommodation, and employment contracts. You can view the blog on www.employmentlawtoday.com. Published by Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2013

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