Racist Facebook Comment About Co-Worker: Employees Can Be Liable for Actions Outside the Office
There was recently a case about an employee who posted racists comments about her co-worker on her Facebook profile that we thought was interesting because it raises the question: can one employee hold a co-worker accountable for the things they say or do on social media? On August 1, 2012, Oscar Perez-Moreno, a manager at […]
Jason Collins “Comes Out”: What are Employers’ Obligations Re: Sexual Orientation of Employees?
Jason Collins became the first professional athlete from a major professional sports league in North America to reveal that he is gay. This provides us with a good opportunity to consider an employer’s obligations in the workplace when an employee “comes out.” Employees in Ontario are protected by the Ontario Human Rights Code and a […]
Privacy Protection in Workplace
Privacy in the workplace requires a balance between employer and employee rights. A recent decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal has expanded privacy protections in the workplace by creating a new privacy tort. The decision has far reaching implications for privacy in the workplace. At paragraphs 67-68 of the decision, Justice Sharpe commented: […]
Human Rights Complaints in the Workplace
Seventy-seven percent (77%) of all applications received by the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal in 2010-2011 arose in the workplace.[i] Presentation by David Wright, Associate Chair of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario to the Human Resources Professional Association, January 2012. Colleen Hoey is an Ottawa-based lawyer practicing in the areas of Employment Law, Human Rights Law, […]
Employers Must Accommodate Childcare Obligations
Human rights legislation prohibits an employer from discriminating against an employee on the basis of “family status”. Does this protection require an employer to modify a work schedule or refuse a work assignment due to child care obligations? In Canadian National Railway v. Seeley, 2013 FC 117, the Federal Court of Canada confirms that family […]
