Although religious and other beliefs should not play any role in employment decisions, there are a significant number of labor court decisions, including of recent date, dealing with employees’ protection against discrimination for this reason.
During the hiring process, the employer is not allowed to ask about the employee’s religion or which religious beliefs the
Before the Employment Equality (Religion and Belief) Regulations came into force in 2003, there was no specific protection for employees from discrimination on grounds of their religious or other beliefs. The law on religion and belief discrimination is now set out in the Equality Act 2010 (the Act) which provides for protection from discrimination in
In a recent case, the Quebec Court of Appeal overturned a Court of Quebec judgment and found that procedural fairness standards applicable to administrative law are not applicable to internal investigations into complaints of psychological harassment in the workplace.
Facts
The appellant was a college professor who was dismissed for psychological harassment of some
Legal context
French employment law strictly prohibits acts of moral harassment within a company, employers being required to take all measures necessary to prevent such situations from occurring in the first place. Applicable sanctions in the event of breach of such prohibition can be particularly severe since the employer can face penal sanctions as well
The use of social media in Australia continues to grow on a daily basis. There are now over 13.4 million daily users of Facebook, 3.9 million active users of LinkedIn and over 2.7 million monthly users of Twitter (Source: Social Media Statistics Australia). There is a good chance that one, if not all of
The onset of legal liability in the New Year, following a mishap at the end of year work party, is an unpleasant reality for employers.
Employers can leave themselves open to this liability because of misunderstandings about the extent of their powers and responsibilities.
The legal reality is that the end of year office function
In the recent decision of TWU v Telus Communcitations Inc, 2014 ABCA 154, the Alberta Court of Appeal addressed the issues of when accommodation is required and whether there is a procedural duty to accommodate, in Alberta human rights legislation.
The employee was unionized and worked in a call centre. During the probationary
The legal context
French employment law strictly prohibits situations of moral harassment in the workplace, the employer being required to take all necessary measures to prevent such situations from occurring. The employer can, for example, be held liable if acts of moral harassment actually take place, as the employer can then be held to have
In 2012, we reported on an Ontario jury award of approximately $1.5 million damages to a 42-year-old former assistant manager who resigned her employment at Wal-Mart after being verbally abused and harassed by her 32-year-old store manager. At trial, the employee was found entitled to $200,000 for intentional infliction of mental suffering, $1 million in
In May, the Federal Court of Appeal issued decisions in Canadian National Railway Company v Seeley, 2014 FCA 111 and Canada (Attorney General) v Johnstone, 2014 FCA 110, upholding findings of discrimination on the basis of family status made initially by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal and upheld by the Trial Division of