Share | Find us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter See us on Youtube















Subscribe By Email rss

Blackberry – Blessing or Curse?

As summer wanes, I’m wringing every last ray of sunshine out of the ever-shortening days. One of the ways I’m doing this is by sometimes extending weekends into Friday afternoons or Monday mornings, relying on my trusty BlackBerry to keep on top of work while still enjoying the beach or the pool. It seems like the best of both worlds, until I remember that I did the same thing while I was actually on vacation. 
How many of us walk away from work and forget about it entirely for two weeks? I’d guess that the answer to that is “fewer and fewer”. And how does that affect our focus, productivity, job satisfaction and health? The answer to that is unequivocal – negatively! According to moneywatch.com, if we don’t give ourselves a real break from the demands at work, both our health and our career can suffer!
Maybe it’s too late for 2011, but let’s all try to do better next summer, shall we? 
Posted: 8/17/2011 10:38:05 AM by Beth Traynor | with 4 comments | Share This Link

Get It In Writing! (Reason # 324 and Counting)

One of the messages that we deliver to clients all the time is the importance of using written employment agreements for all employees. A recent case from the Ontario Court of Appeal stands for the proposition that the unskilled nature of employment is no longer much of a factor in determining what will be a “reasonable notice period” in wrongful dismissal cases. In Di Tomaso v. Crown Metal Packaging Canada LP, the Court was dealing with 62 year old, unskilled labourer who had been with the employer for 33 years at the time of termination. In upholding a notice period of 22 months assessed by the lower court, the Court put a final nail in the coffin of the traditional employer argument that the unskilled or clerical nature of employment meant that there should be a hard “cap” of 12 months’ notice.
 
Forget whether you agree or disagree with the Court on the issue. This horse is out of the barn and the barn has burned down. What employers need to do is focus on having a strategy to manage termination costs before the employment relationship starts. And the most effective way to do that is to have a proper written employment agreement with a termination provision that governs both parties if a termination without cause takes place. It doesn’t have to be fancy. Just make sure that the employee has a chance to consider it and sign it before employment commences and that it doesn’t intentionally (or unintentionally) provide less than the employee’s statutory entitlements upon termination. There are simple examples of contract language available and this is truly a case in which an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Posted: 8/2/2011 11:04:03 AM by Chris White | with 7 comments | Share This Link

linkedin linkEmail Chris
Chris has been practicing labour and employment law for over 25 years. This would explain the hair colour.

linkedin linkEmail Mary Lou
Partner and avid book club member.  Truth be told, very little of her book club’s discussion is ever about the book!

linkedin linkEmail Beth
After several years of working towards a career in midwifery,  realized she had been focusing on the wrong kind of “labour”.

linkedin linkEmail Andrea
Closet comedienne and relieved Bay Street transplant.

View our RECENT POSTS

Browse through past ARTICLE ARCHIVES

We recommend a few FAVORITE WEBSITES