Canadian Employment Law Today

PM40065782 Emplo y ment Law Today Canad ad a ian www.employmentlawtoday.com August 20, 2014 employment law webinars trYiNg to fi gure out how to manage em- ployees' access to company information with their own mobile devices? Need to know how to conduct an effective work- place investigation? Want to brush up on the latest, most important developments in employment law? Canadian HR Reporter offers you the opportunity to enhance your knowledge in employment law matters and increase your value to your organization when it comes to the employer's duties and liabilities. Further your professional development through live and on-demand webinars available at cpdcentre.ca/hrreporter. IN SHORT employer too suspicious of medical leave pg. 4 Confusion over vacation request led to stress and anxiety for mine worker AsK AN eXPert pg. 2 Recording meetings with employees with Tim Mitchell no duty to investigate where no discrimination: Tribunal Fired employee complained – post-dismissal – that supervisor mistreated him because he was gay By LEAH siMON An OnTArIO employer did not have a duty to investigate a complaint of harassment when no actual harassment took place, the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal has found. On Feb. 24, 2014, the tribunal issued its decision in Scaduto v. Insurance Search Bureau, an important decision for employ- ers regarding the duty to investigate an allegation of workplace harassment and discrimination. Andrew Scaduto was employed with Insurance Search Bu- reau of Canada (ISB) for less than four months when his em- ployment was terminated for poor performance. ere had been numerous attempts to provide Scaduto with additional training and multiple discussions with him about his perfor- mance prior to the decision to terminate. At the termination meeting, Scaduto advised ISB — for the fi rst time — he believed his performance became more harshly scrutinized after he told his supervisor he was gay. If Scaduto's allegation was accurate, his termination could have been discriminatory under Ontario's Human Rights Code. Failure to follow standard procedure worthy of demotion, suspension An OnTArIO arbitrator has upheld a worker's suspension and demotion for not following his employer's standard operat- ing procedure for dealing with dangerous chemicals and equipment. e worker was a supervisor with Invista Canada, a manufacturer of industrial nylon in Kingston, Ont. e manufacturing pro- cess involved putting raw materials under pressure and keeping them in a molten state before combining and stretching them into fi laments. As they cool, a vent condenser system draws contaminated molten mate- rial, which is fl ammable and explosive if not handled correctly. Because of the dangerous material used in the manufacturing process, Invista made signifi cant eff orts to develop a "culture of compliance" for its standard operating pro- cedures (SOP), which helped to control risk. e SOP included routine checks of tem- perature, discharge pressure and level in large receivers for the molten material and the vent condensers, which were recorded on a check sheet. e checks were supposed to be done every two hours. Check sheets were maintained for 30 days and were key to monitoring the system and identifying po- WorKer on page 7 » CRedit: duSit/ShutteRStoCk.Com Avoiding a long and costly journey pg. 3 Know all the rules before terminating an expat No DutY to iNVestigAte on page 6 »

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