Canadian HR Reporter

PM40065782 RO9496 May 30, 2016 INSIDE ON THE MOVE Multiple policies, growing diversity and changing de nitions part of latest trends in global relocation Making extensions Longer work-sharing programs help oilpatch page 2 Round 'n' round Job rotations provide boost for employers, workers page 3 'Sexy' dress codes Women face discrimination with revealing out ts page 15 page 13 Smoke and flames from the wildfires erupt behind a truck on the highway near Fort McMurray, Alta., on May 7. The massive blaze forced employers to quickly mobilize in securing employee safety and accommodations. Credit: Mark Blinch (Reuters) fi nancial well–being learn more... mental wellness physical fi tness the original perks company TM the original perks company TM www.venngo.com/perks 1.866.383.6646 ext.227 20160413_hrReporter_earLug_may16_001.indd 2 2016-04-13 4:08 PM Fort Mac fi re puts employers in crisis mode Communication, transparency critical in emergency: Experts BY SARAH DOBSON FOR Candace Bernstein, May 3 started out with blue skies and sunshine in Fort McMurray. While she knew there was a forest fi re in the area, she was busy working as an HR business partner at the of- fi ce of the Regional Municipality of Wood Buff alo. en the fi rst email came in, around 1:25 pm. It was a press release from her employer telling residents about a temporary evac- uation order because of the en- croaching fi re. Just 30 minutes lat- er, it was a mandatory evacuation. "I walked to the other side of my building and I looked out the win- dow and panic ensued," said Bern- stein. "All you see is a giant wall of thick, dark smoke and you kind of see the glowing from the fl ames." People weren't sure what to do, she said. "I don't think my manager thought it was that seri- ous because there was kind of no communication." But at 2:15, Bernstein left the building along with others. "You can't really work when you're in darkness, you're look- ing out and you're like, 'That just doesn't look good,'" she said. "When I left the building, I took a photo. I was like, 'Holy s---.' I was Ontario's OPSEU pushes to reintroduce card-check But lawyer says system gives unions too much advantage BY LIZ FOSTER SAYING it would close the wage gap between men and women, Warren (Smokey) omas is call- ing for a return to the "card-check" method of certifi cation. "Unionization narrows the gen- der wage gap, so making it easier to unionize should make narrow- ing the gap easier as well," said omas, president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU). " e gender wage gap is nar- rowest in the most highly union- ized sector of the economy: e public sector." The card-based certification system — commonly referred to as card-check — allows a union to be certifi ed in a workplace based on union membership cards. If a union fi les membership evidence that it represents more than 55 per cent of employees in the proposed bargaining unit, the Ontario La- bour Relations Board (OLRB) can certify the union without a repre- sentation vote. Background In 1995, the Labour Relations Act implemented a mandatory representation vote system in all sectors. As a result, a union had to prove at least 40 per cent of employees in the proposed bar- gaining unit were members of the union before the OLRB ordered a representation vote. Employees participating in a vote through the mandatory rep- resentation vote system made their decision whether or not to support the union in secret. If the majority of ballots cast in the rep- resentation vote were in favour of the union, the union could be certifi ed. In 2005, however, Bill 144 — the Labour Relations Statute Law Amendment Act — reintroduced card-check in Ontario's construc- tion industry. "Card-based certification in construction makes sense be- cause the work is often mobile and projects are limited in dura- tion, so conducting a representa- tion vote as you would in a regular, non-construction workplace be- comes diffi cult," said Janet Deline, LIMITED > pg. 8 CARD CHECK > pg. 9 Women more likely to seek mental health support: Study But many employees still fear stigma around mental illness BY LIZ BERNIER WOMEN are more likely than men to seek treatment or use workplace supports for issues such as depression, according to research from Morneau Shepell. Sixty-three per cent of the 227 individual users of its Depression Care program, delivered in part- nership with existing workplace EFAPs (employee and family assis- tance programs), are women while just over 28 per cent are women over 50. e fi nding is not terribly shock- ing when you take a look at general EAP usage, said Barb Veder, vice- president of clinical services and research lead at Morneau Shepell in Ottawa. " at isn't atypical. Women by far are more likely to seek help, and certainly the demographics very much play out to the demograph- ics we would see for general coun- GIRLS > pg. 10

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