Canadian Employment Law Today

PM40065782 Emplo y ment Law Today Canad a ian www.employmentlawtoday.com May 28, 2014 Foreign workers denied medical coverage after status expires pg. 4 Coverage not meant to extend past end of work permits: Court U.S. kids toiling on tobacco farms HUMAN RIGHTS Watch, an international rights group, has released a report claiming children as young as seven years old are working on tobacco farms in the U.S. The report cited interviews with more than 100 children in four tobacco-crop states, who reported nausea, vomiting and head- aches — symptoms of nicotine poisoning. Human Rights Watch said U.S. agricultural labour laws allowed young children to work long hours on farms with parents' permis- sion, emphasizing a need for change. The U.S. Labor Department proposed a ban on children under 16 working on to- bacco farms in 2011, only to withdraw it. IN SHORT Employers are people too pg. 3 Ontario court sympathizes with employer's diffi cult fi nancial circumstances ASK AN EXPERT pg. 2 Sick leave and WCB claims • Opposition to union organizing with Colin Gibson Fishery offi cer fi red for associating with the enemy Associations with drug traffi ckers and poachers raised suspicions, aff ected operations and collaborations with police BY JEFFREY R. SMITH A GOVERNMENT department had just cause to dismiss an employee whose per- sonal associations raised concerns and potentially endangered other government agents, a labour adjudicator has ruled. Andre Nicolas was a fi shery offi cer with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) in Quebec's Magdalen Islands, a po- sition he started in 1997. His job involved inspecting boats, enforcing fi sheries legis- lation, and working with police — both the Quebec provincial force and the RCMP — on investigations and arrests. Because fi shery offi cers were peace offi cers who sometimes dealt with violent criminals, they carried fi rearms. ey also shared information with police when co-operating on investigations. e Magdalen Islands are a small commu- nity where "everyone there knows everyone else," sometimes making things complicated for fi shery offi cers. e DFO asked its fi sh- ery offi cers not to place themselves in situ- ations where they would have to conduct surveillance on or intervene with families or friends and to maintain some distance from residents. ey had a code of conduct which stipulated offi cers must conduct themselves "in an exemplary manner," both during and outside work hours. Questionable friends However, since coming to the islands in 1997, Nicolas had accumulated a number Insubordination not enough to warrant fi ring worker with clean record: Adjudicator AN ADJUDICATOR has reinstated a Sas- katchewan worker who was fi red for insub- ordination. Jenna Mullie was an employee of Jay's Moving & Storage, a moving company in Regina. Mullie was hired in August 2008 and, one year later, she signed an acknowl- edgement that she had read and understood the company's rules and standards, which included the stipulation that "respect is expected for supervisor's of Jay's Group of Companies. is entails taking direction and co-operating in working to achieve the company's service level." Mullie was considered a good worker who performed her job well. However, there were some issues with her relations with her bosses and management's communications with her. On April 17, 2013, Mullie approached Terry Pylatuk, the branch manager, and complained about the poor performance of a co-worker with whom she had just worked a job. Pylatuk proceeded to pass on Mullie's complaints to the co-worker, which made Mullie upset. Mullie considered it a breach of confi dentiality, got upset and began cry- ing. She later testifi ed Pylatuk told her he OFFICER on page 6 » MOVING on page 7 » CREDIT: ANTONIO GRAVANTE/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

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