Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER CANADIAN HR REPORTER May 5, 2014 May 5, 2014 INSIGHT INSIGHT 21 21 Credit: Jan Kratochvila/Shutterstock.com PLAID NO LONGER COOL? MISSISSAUGA, ONT. — A Canadian flight simulator instructor who rose to fame with regular appear- ances on CNN's marathon cover- age of the missing Malaysian air- liner has been fi red. Mitchell Casa- do was let go because he "shamed Canadians" by dressing like a teen- ager and showing up late to work, according to his former employer. CNN's Martin Savidge appeared regularly with Casado in the simulator near Toronto's airport, and Casado's casual dress caught a lot of attention. Claudio Teix- eira, owner of uFly, said he made Canadians "look very bad all over the world" and he received email complaints about the worker's dress while on CNN. "Even though I let him be on TV, he shamed us Canadians and shamed my com- pany with the way he was dressing like he was 15 years old," he told the Associated Press. "People were complaining that it wasn't profes- sional at all. If you go to any plane, you don't see them in shorts and sandals." Casado was given two weeks' pay. WORLD'S TOUGHEST JOB TORONTO — is may hold the world record for the least eff ective recruitment campaign: A job ad viewed 2.7 million times got only 24 applicants. e posting was for a director of operations at Rehtom Inc. e hours were full-time, on call 24-7. Requirements included working 135 hours to unlimited hours per week; a workload that increased on all major holidays; willingness to forego any breaks; work mostly standing up or bend- ing down; and unlimited patience. e salary? $0, with no health or dental coverage, no pension and no paid holidays. A video explain- ing the job — featuring interviews of those who actually applied — had been viewed more than 14.8 million times on YouTube as of press time. (You can view the video by going to www.hrreporter.com, clicking on "Advanced Search" and entering article number 20859.) Spoiler alert: If you didn't guess it, the job was for a mother — Rehtom spelled backwards. It was all part of a clever marketing scheme by Hallmark leading up to Mother's Day. A LITTLE TOO FRIENDLY IN THE SKIES TEMPE, ARIZ. — U.S. Airways is in- vestigating after a pornographic tweet was sent out from its offi cial Twitter account in response to a customer complaint about a fl ight delay. e tweet, predictably, went viral. It featured a photograph of a naked woman lying on a bed with a toy airplane. U.S. Airways de- leted the photograph immediately and apologized, Davien Anderson, spokesperson for the airline, told Reuters. WASN'T THE PRISON GARB A GIVEAWAY? PRAGUE— A Czech fraudster who escaped from prison not only managed to evade the cops but also landed a plum gig. Vladimir Prokop was hired as chief econo- mist at the National Agriculture Museum while on the lam, and promptly stole 10 million Czech crowns (about $553,000 Cdn). When police came to arrest Pro- kop at his new workplace, he fl ed through the exhibition halls, an emergency exit staircase and then hailed a cab, according to Reuters. So if you're hiring in the Czech Re- public, don't skip that background check. A PROFESSION THAT REALLY NEEDS SWISS PRECISION DUBLIN — Police in Ireland say a bomber had a bomb explode in his face because he forgot to change his clocks for Daylight Savings Time, according to the Mirror newspaper. (While Canada puts the clock ahead in March, the United Kingdom doesn't switch to summer time until April.) e man was apparently trying to plant the bomb under a Volvo SUV when it exploded. e bomber, who was injured in the blast, even- tually staggered into a taxi. W EIRD ORKPLACE THE LOOK OUT BELOW MISSISSAUGA, ONT. — Air Canada is in full apology mode after T. a passenger fi lmed workers dropping luggage from a height of about 20 feet from the boarding gate into a bin. Dwayne Stewart, of Abbotsford, B.C., fi lmed the video while on the tarmac before a fl ight to Vancouver, according to Global News. e luggage being dropped was carry-on luggage — where people often stow valuables such as laptops and other electronics — that wouldn't fi t on the plane. "Sorry, Air Canada, this is a fail," said Stewart in the video, which was posted on YouTube. Air Canada immediately took to Twitter to apologize. " is clearly goes against our stan- dard baggage-handling procedures which dictate that gate-checked bags are to be hand-carried down the ramp," it posted. "An investi- gation into this has been launched." Angela Mah, an Air Canada spokesperson, told the CBC the airline was trying to identify those involved, saying their "employment will be terminated pending the outcome of our investigation." Some observers are pointing the fi nger not at the poorly behaving employees but the airline itself for not having a better method to deal with gate-checked baggage. Vol. 27 No. 9 – May 5, 2014 PUBLISHED BY PUBLISHED BY Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. One Corporate Plaza 2075 Kennedy Rd. Toronto, ON M1T 3V4 ©Copyright 2014 by Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. All rights reserved. CANADIAN HR REPORTER CANADIAN HR REPORTER is published 22 times a year. 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Todd Humber Editor's Notes Disturbing reminder for HR Disturbing reminder for HR Shockwaves are still rippling through the human resources community in the wake of the stabbing of four workers — three of them apparently HR professionals — at a Ceridian offi ce in Toronto last month. e April 9 attack happened as the accused, 47-year-old Chuang Li, was being terminated from his job at Ceridian, according to To- ronto police. "He was being fi red and I guess then he proceeded to get involved in stabbing some of his bosses and some other employees," said Det. Daniel Darnbrough. Li is facing three counts of at- tempted murder, four counts of aggravated assault and four counts of assault with a weapon. ankfully, it looks like all of the victims will recover, so that's one thing we can be grateful for as we keep our colleagues and friends at Ceridian in our thoughts. In the wake of the attack, the editorial team gathered here at Canadian HR Reporter to dis- cuss how to cover this story. Two questions came immediately to my mind: Question 1: Does the process for handling terminations need a rethink? Question 2: What are the warning signs employers should look for that an individual may become enraged or even violent during the termination meeting? Liz Bernier, our news editor, tackled those questions in her cover story. See "Termination nightmare: Stabbing rampage raises unsettling questions," page 1. Another key question sur- rounding this story — how to return to normal in the wake of a violent workplace incident — was tackled in the April 7 issue in a story we did on the aftermath of a double murder at a Loblaw grocery warehouse in Edmonton. (You can read that story on www. hrreporter.com.) Lauren Chesney, an HR profes- sional at OMERS (Ontario Mu- nicipal Employees Retirement System) in Toronto — who used to work with us here at Canadian HR Reporter — was, like many professionals, taken aback by the violence. She off ered to write a commentary for us and you can read her take on page 22. It's an excellent rundown that she put together in conjunction with her father, a police offi cer in Scotland. From what details we know to date, it appears as if the ter- mination of Li was following a pretty standard HR script used by countless organizations and professionals. e worker was separated from his co-workers and called into a meeting. e meeting may have even been held in the HR depart- ment, which puts it on neutral ground — always a good move in my books. There were multiple people present, including HR profes- sionals who are well-versed in employee terminations and more likely to "stick to the script," so to speak — avoiding infl ammatory language, pointing fingers and other antics that can stir tempers. Of course, we don't yet know what actually happened in that room — other than things went horribly wrong. ose details will likely come out at trial. We don't have a lot of answers yet, just a lot of questions and a disturbing reminder that no mat- ter how prepared you are or how strong a practice might be, bad things sometimes happen and there is almost nothing you can do to completely eliminate the risk. Join us on LinkedIn On a happier note, Canadian HR Reporter has set up its own Linked- In Group. is will be a forum for our readers to discuss articles in the publication, challenges they are facing in their own organi- zations and a place to share best practice advice. If you're on LinkedIn — and, really, every HR professional should be — please take a mo- ment to join our group. We'd love to have you join the con- versation. The awkward di- rect link is www.linkedin.com/ groups?home=&gid=7495430 or you can simply search for "Ca- nadian HR Reporter." See you on LinkedIn! (This was) a disturbing reminder that no matter how prepared you are, there is almost nothing you can do to completely eliminate the risk.

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