Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER September 7, 2015 26 INSIGHT AMEN TO THAT DEVLIN, ONT. — Twenty-fi ve workers at a furniture manufac- turer in Devlin, Ont., who voted in favour of joining a union saw their plans quashed when Gingrich Woodcraft said it was closing shop, according to CBC. e Christian business owners said their person- al beliefs did not allow them free- dom to work with a labour union: "We are required by scripture to 'live peaceably with all men' and not to use force to gain what we want or for what is required to suc- ceed." But Unifor was having none of it, saying it had fi led a complaint with the Ontario Labour Relations Board. " is is against the law," said Unifor national representative Ste- phen Boon. "You cannot threaten or intimidate workers and take action directly aimed at unioniza- tion." It is almost inconceivable an employer is taking this position, said Boon in the St. Frances Times. "Despite the fact that several Men- nonite operations across Canada are already unionized, Gingrich management has taken the shock- ing stance that their 'faith' requires employees either remain non- union and, therefore, underpaid and exploited, or instead be fi red." 'SPARE A HAPPY MEAL?' HYERES, FRANCE — After an apparent incident involving two homeless people in front of a Mc- Donald's in Hyeres, France, the outlet caused a stir recently when it posted a notice — which soon circulated on social media — stat- ing: "It is absolutely forbidden to provide food to vagrants, as a re- minder, the team's meals should be eaten on the premises. Meals for team members are a personal benefi t and are to be enjoyed only by the worker in question." e no- tice went on to say McDonald's "is not in the business of feeding all the hungry people in the land" and any diversion from this procedure "will result in sanction that could lead to dismissal." e chain has since apol- ogized, according to Reuters, "to all those who may have been shocked by this notice and state that the brand is dedicated to serving all its clients without discrimination." THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT LONDON, U.K. — Inspired by a 2011 study that showed gendered wording in job ads both existed and sustained gender inequality, a woman has developed a "Gender Decoder for Job Ads." Employers can paste in a job ad to fi nd out if it has "subtle linguistic gender- coding" as a tool checks for varia- tions on certain masculine- or feminine-coded words such as "active," "confi dent" or "stubborn" for men and "considerate," "com- munal" and "inclusive" for women. e 2011 paper in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found job adverts with masculine coding were less appealing for women and made them feel they belonged less in those occupa- tions, while for men, feminine- coded ads were only slightly less appealing and there was no eff ect on how much they felt they be- longed in those roles. "Society has certain expectations of what men and women are like, and how they diff er, and this seeps into the lan- guage we use," said Kat Matfi eld, a service designer and product man- ager at Adaptive Lab. CAMPING FOR A CAUSE GENEVA — ere's been plenty of media coverage around the plight of unpaid interns, but one individual garnered attention recently when it was discovered he was living in a tent in Geneva — despite working for the United Nations. David Hyde, a 22-year- old from New Zealand, was working without pay and said he couldn't aff ord to rent a place. He said he knew the internship offered no compensation and he lied to get the job, telling recruiters he could pay for his living expenses, according to the New York Times. After nine days, Hyde resigned from the position because of all the media attention, but he cited the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: "Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration." W EIRD ORKPLACE THE Vol. 28 No. 14 – September 7, 2015 PUBLISHED BY Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. One Corporate Plaza 2075 Kennedy Rd. Toronto, ON M1T 3V4 ©Copyright 2015 by Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. All rights reserved. CANADIAN HR REPORTER is published 21 times a year. Publications Mail – Agreement # 40065782 Registration # 9496 – ISSN 0838-228X Director, Carswell Media: Karen Lorimer - (416) 649-9411 karen.lorimer@thomsonreuters.com Publisher: (on leave) John Hobel - (416) 298-5197 john.hobel@thomsonreuters.com EDITORIAL Associate Publisher/Managing Editor: Todd Humber - (416) 298-5196 todd.humber@thomsonreuters.com Lead Editor: Sarah Dobson - (416) 649-7896 sarah.dobson@thomsonreuters.com News Editor: Liz Bernier - (416) 649-7837 liz.bernier@thomsonreuters.com Employment Law Editor: Jeffrey R. 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Address changes and returns: Send changes and undeliverable Canadian addresses to: SUBSCRIBER SERVICES Canadian HR Reporter One Corporate Plaza 2075 Kennedy Rd. Toronto, ON M1T 3V4 ❑ From time to time, we make our subscriber list available to companies and organizations whose products and services we believe may be of interest to you. If you do not want your name to be made available, please check here and return with your mailing label. CUSTOMER SERVICE Call: (416) 609-3800 (Toronto) (800) 387-5164 (outside Toronto) Fax: (416) 298-5082 (Toronto) (877) 750-9041 (outside Toronto) Email: carswell.customerrelations@ thomsonreuters.com LETTERS TO THE EDITOR todd.humber@thomsonreuters.com CHRR reserves the right to edit for length and clarity. Todd Humber EDiTOR'S NOTeS High time for cannabis coverage P repare to call me a nerd, a square or whatever other derogatory, prudish name you can think of — because I've never tried marijuana. Nev- er smoked it, never ate a pot brownie and never purposely ingested it. I suppose there is all that second-hand smoke that seems to billow around every concert venue, but I'm not sure that quite counts. I can't stand the skunky smell and have little interest in the mind-al- tering aff ects. I've been known to enjoy a pint or two, and never turn my nose up at a decent cocktail or a glass of red wine — but alcohol, not pot, is my drug of choice. I only reveal my unhipness to set the stage for the following comment: It's time for Health Canada to give marijuana a drug identifi cation number, it's time for insurance companies to cover it and it's time for employers to get behind it. is is not a slam dunk argu- ment, and opponents can make a pretty solid case against that no- tion. Scientifi c evidence around the health benefi ts of smoking marijuana isn't clear cut, there are real concerns about worker safety (and yes, throw in jokes about the productivity of stoners) and there are moral issues around the so-called normalization of using what has long been considered an illegal drug. But the tide is changing. In the United States, marijuana has been mostly legalized in four states — Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska. Other jurisdictions will no doubt follow suit in the near future. In Canada, the move to legalize has been slower — but most still see it as a matter of when, not if. e stigma around marijuana use has all but disappeared. Many people use it openly on the streets, others proudly admit to being regular users — and we're talk- ing professionals, not potheads. It's just not taboo anymore, and many argue that cannabis has fewer side eff ects and long-term problems than legal vices such as alcohol and tobacco. But perhaps the most compel- ling case to make to employers (as always) is the fi nancial one. Mari- juana is cheaper than many pre- scription drugs, and if it's helping employees — even if it's just a pla- cebo eff ect — then isn't the idea worth serious consideration? As noted on page 1 of this is- sue (See "Should medical mari- juana be covered?"), cracks have appeared in the anti-marijuana armour. We know of at least two examples where medicinal pot is being covered by insurers. ere will only be more as time goes on. But what this can never be is a blank cheque for workers to punch in high or to ingest mari- juana in the office. And that's where things get very murky. Earlier this year, the British Columbia Human Rights Tribu- nal upheld the fi ring of a logging worker who smoked weed on the job without legal and medical authorization, according to an article in Canadian Employment Law Today (www.employment- lawtoday.com). e employee of Selkin Log- ging in Fraser Lake, B.C., oper- ated a machine similar to an ex- cavator that is used for gripping logs. Years ago, he had been diag- nosed with cancer. He smoked six to eight joints a day with another co-worker, but only when his su- pervisor wasn't around. When the employee discov- ered the drug use, it told him it had zero tolerance for drugs at the worksite. It gave him a letter that stated if they can't stop tak- ing drugs on the worksite and don't show up for work, then the employee would be considered to have quit, wrote Jeff rey R. Smith in the Canadian Employment Law Today article. e tribunal said this was eff ectively a dismissal, but upheld it. ere may be rare instances where an employee is allowed to use drugs in the workplace. But it can never be allowed to occur where it could compromise safe- ty, and should only be allowed in cases where a doctor has given it the green light. But there's no denying that, as marijuana goes more main- stream, it merits serious consid- eration as a prescription drug to be covered by employee benefi t plans. With so many individuals swearing by its positive eff ects, and the fact that it seems to work more effectively than harsher, more expensive medication with serious side eff ects, it's high time for employers to get on the bandwagon. But unlike Bill Clinton, you're going to have to inhale. National HR Awards anks to all organizations who submitted nominations for the inaugural National HR Awards — we were swamped with qual- ity nominations. It was gratifying to see strong embracement of the program. Stay tuned — winners will be announced in the next is- sue. Best of luck to everyone! NOT SO HIP TERRACE, B.C. — A B.C. man on his way to a family wedding in Ontario was met with considerable resistance recently when his artifi cial hip set off a metal detector at Northwest Regional Airport, according to Metro. e female screening offi cer told Robert Hart he would have to book another fl ight because no male staff from the Canadian Air Transport Security Author- ity (CATSA) were available to pat him down. While Hart was OK being searched by a female offi cer or an Air Canada agent or RCMP offi cer, the woman would not budge. "At that point they lost my sympathy. Your job is to ensure my safety, not to impede my journey," said Hart, who took a red-eye fl ight six hours later when a male screener was on duty. Exceptions are allowed, said CATSA spokesperson Mathieu Larocque: "We made a mistake... e screening offi cers were under the impression that same-sex screening was to be applied no matter what the circumstances." Credit: Sebastian Kaulitzki (Shutterstock) or RCMP offi cer, the woman would not budge. "At that point they lost my sympathy. Your job is to ensure my safety, not to impede my journey," said Hart, who took

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