Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER CANADIAN HR REPORTER April 7, 2014 April 7, 2014 6 NEWS NEWS LOOKING TO HIRE? CFA Society Toronto's employment posting service gives you access to over 8,000 investment professionals. Our Career Centre has become the job source for investment employers. WHY NOT JOIN US? For more information: Tel: 416.366.5755 option 4 Email: jobs@cfatoronto.ca www.cfatoronto.ca WANT ACCESS TO HIGHLY QUALIFIED INVESTMENT PROFESSIONALS? No easy answers when employees go missing No easy answers when employees go missing Dire circumstances – such as a missing airplane – call for sensitivity, support Dire circumstances – such as a missing airplane – call for sensitivity, support BY SARAH DOBSON WHEN THE news fi rst broke, people were stunned. How could an airplane just disappear? But as the days passed, reality set in and it became apparent the passengers and pilots on Malaysia fl ight 370 had truly vanished. Austin-based Freescale Semi- conductor had 20 employees — 12 from Malaysia and eight from China — on that fl ight who worked at facilities in their respec- tive countries. "It's been a really tough week- end," said spokesperson Jacey Zuniga in an Associated Press sto- ry after the news broke. "We're re- ally focused on our employees and their families and we're watching the latest developments like ev- erybody else, waiting to hear more concrete news." Whether it's an airliner that disappears, a mine explosion or an employee who doesn't return from his morning run, employers are faced with a challenging situa- tion when an employee goes miss- ing under dire circumstances. Above all, employers should re- member this type of situation is a human issue before it's a human resources or legal issue, said Chris Andree, partner and national practice group leader in the em- ployment and labour law group at Gowlings in Kitchener, Ont. "How an employer behaves in this type of situation will send a strong message to existing em- ployees, prospective employees, customers, suppliers, referral sources — whoever else that the business deals with, and so they need to be mindful of that," he said. "By focusing on process and legal rights, that can cause an employer to ignore those aspects of the situation which will leave a legacy far more costly than a few days' wages or a temporary dis- ruption of the business." From a legal perspective, a per- son is technically absent if she doesn't give a suffi cient explana- tion for not attending work, said Andree, and failure to do so is a breach of the duty of loyalty and fi delity, and may be a breach of policy. However, in a circum- stance such as Malaysia fl ight 370, an employer should not follow the same course. "We all know why the person is away and certainly it's not the per- son's fault... so the employer has to consider how to deal with this. And carefully," he said. "Typically, businesses do not need to act immediately to do backfi ll or replace that individual because the circumstances, at least in the fi rst short period, are no diff erent than if the person became seriously ill… or they suff ered an injury like in a car accident." If the employer has a policy around absences, it should be willing to extend the courtesy or bend the rules for the miss- ing employee to allow for paid absences, unpaid absences and continuing benefi ts, said Andree. "Money issues tend to cause the employer to be perceived as insensitive, so (that includes) fail- ure to pay, dealing with benefi ts, not providing whatever coverage they might be otherwise entitled to." is kind of situation is sur- prisingly common, especially in northern communities where employees often go out to hunt and don't immediately return, said Glenn Tait, a partner at McLen- nan Ross in Yellowknife. Prudent employers will try to contact the missing employee or fi nd out what's going on, and of- ten the community organizes a search, he said. Oftentimes, collective agree- ments provide for some type of special leave if a person is unable to report to work because of se- vere weather conditions, said Tait. Some agreements say if the em- ployee doesn't show up for work for a certain number of days and has not contacted her employer, she's deemed to have abandoned her position. " at gets around the argument about whether or not you've ac- tually resigned your employment because the general law with re- spect to resignation is that there needs to be an objective and sub- jective intention to resign," he said. ere could also be cases where an employee goes off on vacation and doesn't come back. " e fi rst thing you'd want to do is try to contact the employee and fi nd out what the situation is," said Tait. "If you can't get in touch with the employee, and if the situation drags on and if you truly don't have any information then, at some point, the employer's going to have to say, 'Look, I've deter- mined, I have no other conclusion to draw but that you've resigned your employment.'" Careful with communications Ideally, the employer should have a pre-organized crisis response team and critical inci- dent management plan in place, according to Vicki Enns, clinical director and trainer at the Crisis and Trauma Resource Institute in Winnipeg. "Having more than one person and having the right people lead- ing the response is crucial to en- suring that the response is both 'enough' and not 'too much.'" e fi rst step should be to fi nd out the actual facts to avoid mis- communication and misinfor- mation getting out to concerned people. Once these are verifi ed, the re- sponse team can decide what in- formation to share at what time and how, she said. Questions to consider in- clude: What information do we give co-workers? Do we contact family? Who is the best person to contact family? Do we need counsellors? An employer may also want to shut the offi ce down for a day or two or have a group debriefi ng a few days after the incident. But it should not assume every em- ployee will react the same way, said Enns. "Some people will want to continue working as usual, oth- ers will be so impacted they are not able to work — be ready for a variety of responses. Give people information about what their options are for individual debriefing or counselling. If your organization has an EAP provider, make sure employ- ees know how to access this service." Employee relations or employ- ee management can vary depend- ing on the situation, according to Alison Schofi eld, principal at Mercer in Toronto. Even if you don't feel the need to have a traumatic care interven- tion, an EAP provider can give ad- vice on how to deal with people whose colleagues have gone miss- ing, especially if it's a more public situation, she said. "You need to be careful about what kind of conversation goes on, and part of the reason to call in an EAP in is to manage that kind of chitchat, because you don't necessarily want your workforce going out and talking to the press about it either." Employers should also be more fl exible in dealing with co-work- ers who are coping with the news, and allow for informal or formal peer support, said Andree. " is is not a time for employ- ers to be watching the clock and saying, 'I need you at your station or I need you at your desk,' every moment from 8 am to 4:30 p.m. ose ad hoc gatherings of em- ployees to support one another should be certainly allowed if not encouraged." As time passes and the situa- tion becomes more static, the em- ployer may consider temporary labour, said Andree. And eventu- ally there will be a point where pay has to end. "If it's simply an absence and the employer has exhausted whatever paid leaves they might be willing to extend to the individual, the employer would be within its rights to cease the payment of wages," he said. But employers should be mind- ful of the impact on family. "You would certainly want to give advance notice of the cessa- tion of the pay and, at the same time, advise them of any other supports that might be available," said Andree, such as life insurance benefi ts. Once it's apparent the employ- ee is not coming back, there are a variety of steps involved, from hiring a replacement, dealing with the death certifi cate, generating a record of employment, contacting next of kin and the benefi ts plan provider, and dealing with the in- surance company. Often employers continue ben- efi ts for benefi ciaries for a couple of years, said Schofi eld. "Most employers try to act with some compassion and not too quickly on some of these things." Companies should also make sure they are prepared for the next time, said Tait. " is is a good example of why you need to have succession plans in place because you cannot pre- dict when somebody's going to be on an airplane that's going to crash." "If it's simply an absence and the employer has exhausted whatever paid leaves they might be willing to extend, it would be within its rights to cease paying wages."

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