Abolishing mandatory retirement poses challenges for employers
In BC, the Premier’s Council on Aging and Seniors’ Issues has recommended the abolishment of mandatory retirement. If put into effect, this recommendation would see the removal of the portions of the BC Human Rights Code preventing persons aged 65 or older from complaining of age discrimination. [ go]

Damages For Loss of Career Confirmed
Followers of court decisions might be forgiven for thinking that large damage awards given by lower courts tend to be overturned by the courts of appeal. This is, in fact, often the case and perhaps that’s the way the system should work (lower courts stretching the boundaries of previous decisions and the higher courts stepping in when the limits have been stretched too far). [ go]

Terms of employment | Giving notice to changes to employment terms
Terms of employment established when an employee starts a job don’t always suit an employer’s later needs. Employers frequently want to change terms of employment. [ go]

Length of Tenure Influences Notice Entitlement
How much notice do employees legally need before you can lay them off? Although many people think two weeks is the legal standard, Canadian common law for employment outlines termination notice in detail. [ go]

Onerous Terms Not Necessarily Unconscionable
Wrongful dismissal cases often lead to debate over the legality of a severance formula set out in an employment contract. In most cases, the former employee argues the severance formula should be disregarded while the employer argues for keeping it. [ go]

Restrictive Covenants Subject to Limits
Restrictive covenants are often utilized by employers to govern the post-employment activities of key employees. The employer seeks to protect itself from damage imposed by former employees engaging in competitive business activities. [ go]

Privacy Rules Don't Make The Personnel File An Open Book
The recent introduction of so-called privacy legislation is having a ripple effect on employers' human resources practices. One of these effects is the now frequent demand by employees to see the contents of their personnel file. [ go]

Application Forms Are Useful Screening Tools
The application form is an under-utilized tool for screening out undesirable applicants. Many employers treat it as a way to obtain contact information for the applicant and little more. [ go]

Probation Period is an Effective Screening Tool
Perhaps the best weapon in an employer’s arsenal to screen applicants is the probation period. In my experience, it is also one of the least used and least understood. [ go]

Use The Proper Method For Offering Employment
The moment of offering employment is one of the most important in the employment relationship. It is also one of the most poorly utilized by employers. [ go]

When Is A Quit Not A Quit?
I suspect that most employers struggle, occasionally, with the question of whether an employee has resigned from employment. I know that I am often called on to provide advice on this subject. [ go]

Employers Should Step Lightly In Restricting Offices Romances
As surely as the sun will rise each day, employees will form personal relationships with co-workers. Some employers frown on such relationships and attempt to take preventative steps. The degree to which the employer can lawfully intervene to restrict such relationships, however, is limited. [ go]

Employee or independent contractor?
Your organization could wind up with a huge financial liability if you’ve mislabelled employees as contractors. Find out your legal obligations and the respective status of both groups. [ go]

Hiring older workers – a legal perspective
Hiring older workers seems to be part of an employer bandwagon. The shiny, new era of the elimination of mandatory retirement policies in British Columbia is but a few weeks old. That legal change seems to have come at an opportune moment for older workers. [ go]

Restrictive covenants face uncertain interpretation
Restrictive covenants can be tricky. Most of the difficult issues in employment law have been ironed out by the courts. That is the inevitable effect of hundreds of decisions by judges every year touching on all aspects of the employment relationship. [ go]