Canadian HR Reporter

PM40065782 RO9496 November 30, 2015 INSIDE AWARDING SAFETY Canada's Safest Employers were recognized at an annual event honouring the best $5,000 credit Alberta is hoping more employers will boost hiring page 6 Becoming a CHRO Many leaders lack 'career HR' background page 13 The 'gig' economy Leading the work versus leading employees page 19 page 11 SERVING UP EMPLOYMENT After struggling to find work, Thomas now has his first job as a barista at a Starbucks in Toronto. The coffee chain launched a pilot program in April in Toronto when it committed to filling 10 per cent of new hires with young people age 16 to 24 who are not working and not going to school. The project is on track to exceed its 10 per cent goal — translating to 150 hires — in the first year and the program is now being rolled out in Vancouver and Montreal, with Starbucks Canada planning to make it a national program. Credit: Starbucks Coffee Canada The CANADIAN OUTPLACEMENT COMPANY Since 1981 Rehiring fi red employee sticky situation for HR Return of controversial Hydro One worker highlights challenges for employers, employees BY LIZ BERNIER IT'S arguably one of the more awkward situations HR has to deal with: An employee misbehaves, is fi red and then — surprise — he's reinstated just a few months later. at was the case at Hydro One recently after the organization was told by an arbitrator to rehire Shawn Simoes, the employee who was terminated after endorsing rude comments made by another man on air to a CityNews reporter at a Toronto sports game in the spring. Simoes, who reportedly earned $106,510 per year at his job, sent an apology letter to the reporter, made a donation to the White Ribbon campaign and attended sensitivity training, according to his union, the Society of Energy Professionals. e story is a polarizing one, ac- cording to Mike Salveta, president of managed solutions at Pivotal HR Solutions in Toronto. "Had it been a story about an individual who drank too much and said something inappropri- ate, it probably wouldn't have had legs. But as soon as the employer was brought into it — particularly Hydro One — you knew that this was going to be a very diffi cult and polarizing story," he said. "It was almost a no-win situa- tion. I think the organization had no choice." It certainly wouldn't have looked good if Hydro One had not reacted to Simoes' behaviour, said Salveta. At the same time, there were ob- viously some who felt termination was a punishment disproportion- ate to the crime. Awkward situation In the social media age, we're likely to keep seeing companies react quickly to public scandals involv- ing an employee — even if it means having to backtrack later, whether through arbitration or a wrongful dismissal suit, said Salveta. "Ten, 15 years ago, employ- ers really didn't have to deal with social media… but, on the other hand, they're desperately trying to attract and retain excellent em- ployees, and part of that is having some sort of vision and values, and standards that you stand for as an organization." When a misbehaving employee is rehired, there's no argument it's an awkward situation, said Carina Vassilieva, senior principal at Hay Group in Toronto. "Generally speaking, a reinstate- ment of a terminated employee in a case of misconduct makes the employer-employee relationship diffi cult. So it all depends on a va- riety of factors," she said. "One of them would be whether the employee deserves a second chance because they realized that they misbehaved or that their conduct wasn't appropriate (and) POLARIZATION > pg. 12 'Revealing' dress code prompts complaints Service sector wrought with sexist, discriminatory culture: Professor BY SABRINA NANJI NEGATIVE publicity around an unpopular dress code has led a restaurant chain to withdraw its policy, raising the question: If it's clearly a discriminatory practice, should others in the hospitality and service industries follow suit? Two servers filed complaints against the Bier Markt restaurant chain with the Human Rights Tri- bunal of Ontario, according to the CBC, while Tierney Angus, a three-year server at the Bier Markt, retained a lawyer with the intention of fi ling a human rights complaint against her employer after it implemented a uniform policy consisting of skin-tight, re- vealing dresses. The dress was manufactured by Vancouver-based Dirty Girls Uniforms, according to Angus's lawyer, Barbara Green at Robins Appleby in Toronto. "( e dress) was tight and re- vealing, underwear lines were exposed through the dress, it was sleeveless, it was short. e fi rst is- sue was the form-fi tting nature of the dress." HUMAN > pg. 10 Ontario proposes sexual harassment legislation Employers face new defi nitions, investigation rules BY SARAH DOBSON WHEN she was in her 20s, Deb- ora De Angelis said she was sexu- ally harassed at work. Tired of listening to sexually explicit jokes for eight or nine hours a day, she complained to HR. But there was no policy and no legislation protecting workers against this kind of behaviour, and De Angelis, now national co-ordinator for strateg ic campaigns at the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) in Toronto, said she was further penalized at work. In the end, the company went under and De Angelis was the fi rst person to be laid off , despite her long service. "Even by complaining, when you don't have the proper struc- ture, you're going to be penalized," she said. As a result, De Angelis is en- couraged by legislation looking to pass in Ontario as part of the government's "It's Never Okay" action plan to change attitudes, improve supports for survivors and make workplaces and cam- puses safer and more responsive to complaints about sexual violence and harassment. e Sexual Violence and Ha- rassment Action Plan Act would amend the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) to in- clude a defi nition of workplace sexual harassment, enhance re- quirements regarding workplace harassment programs and create specifi c new employer duties to protect workers from workplace harassment, including a duty to ensure incidents and complaints are appropriately investigated. High-profi le cases such as the Jian Ghomeshi case — which saw the former CBC host charged with sexual assault — really put the THIRD-PARTY > pg. 8

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