In my last blog post, I discussed the emerging importance of coworking spaces in the post-industrial workforce. In this part two of the series, at the risk of bursting this utopian post-industrial bubble, I set out some of the more pressing employment law issues with coworking spaces: confidential information, data security, privacy and ownership of content.Continue Reading Coworking Part 2: Data & Privacy Risks
Coworking Part 1: Turning the Workplace Upside Down
For the last many centuries, workers have gathered together in the same workplace because they were paid and employed by the same employer, and because that’s where the work was. It didn’t really matter if you had anything personally in common with your co-workers, and you certainly didn’t have to be inspired or motivated by them. But you did have to show up at the bricks and mortar workspace to do the work and get your paycheque.
Technology and the explosion of the entrepreneurial economy have changed all that. Work for many is where our computer can hook up to a signal and get access to documents in the cloud. That means work can be anywhere for many pockets of our post-industrial workforce.
This is the first part of a 4 part series looking at the coworking world: (1) what it is; (2) what are the data & privacy risks; (3) what are the human risks; and (4) how to manage your employees who may be working out of a coworking space.Continue Reading Coworking Part 1: Turning the Workplace Upside Down
Canadian Law Blogs to Check Out
The 2013 Clawbies winners were announced on December 31, and I am humbled and so very grateful to the readers that nominated my blog. I am happy to write that this blog was selected for a Best Practitioner Blog in Canada award.
More importantly, however, is the chance to explore what blogs are out there. I subscribe to many blogs through my Feedly, but there are new ones popping up every day. The Clawbies Awards are such a great opportunity to check out blogs that may have missed my radar.
A huge thanks to the adjudicators that volunteered their time to organize and review this year’s Clawbies Awards.
Here’s a summary of Canadian law blogs you may want to check out. A full description of each blog is at www.clawbies.ca.Continue Reading Canadian Law Blogs to Check Out
Top 2013 Canadian Employment & Labour Cases
Looking for a bootcamp on important cases from 2013? Here are a few of my favourite Canadian bloggers and their top 5-10 cases from 2013. There is some overlap, but also a good range of cases to highlights how law can be much more of an art than a science.
2013 Clawbies Nominations
It’s Clawbies Season again!
When I started my blog in 2009, I could count on one hand my employment law blogging compatriots in Canada. There are some excellent marketing departments now pushing out all kinds of content, but I remain sentimental for the independent blogger blogging for the love it, for the opportunity to connect
2014 AODA Requirements for Large Private Employers
On January 1, 2014, private sector employers with 50 or more employees in Ontario face the next round of compliance requirements under the Accessibility for Ontarians with a Disability Act, 2005 (“AODA”).
Most organizations have already complied with the AODA Customer Service Regulation. The AODA Integrated Accessibility Regulation (“IAR”) sets out the followings requirements
No, Privacy is Not Dead
There is no doubt that we are in the midst of a massive shift in how we consume information and how we communicate with each other. And there is also no doubt that those under 20 who grew up not knowing any different will have a very different kind of comfort around the online universe.
Making Cyberbullying a Criminal Offence in Canada
On Wednesday, the Canadian federal government introduced Bill C-13, a ‘new’ cyberbullying bill to address the increasingly harmful effects of intimate images going viral online. The cyberbullying proposals are part of a wider omnibus bill that amends a few acts, including the Criminal Code and Evidence Act.
Many of the cyberbulling provisions are in
Do Individual Rights to Privacy Trump the Union’s Charter Rights on the Picketline?
When addressing the dispute at a union’s picketline, which interest trumps: your individual right to privacy or a union’s right to freedom of expression?
This morning, the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) released a seminal case that aggressively concludes that the union’s constitutional right will prevail over an individual’s privacy rights arising out of the
Implementing a Successful BYOD Program
Last week, I conducted a workshop on implementing a successful “Bring Your Own Device” (BYOD) program at the Canadian Institute’s Privacy Law & Compliance Conference. I met a wonderful group of privacy experts who had plenty to contribute to the discussion.
We talked about the benefits, risks and costs of permitting employees to use their personal device to perform work-related tasks, which typically includes accessing the company’s network. Over half the group was in the public sector and regularly handled very sensitive, confidential personal information.
The private sector attendees in the group had an equally strong concern about protecting highly sensitive and confidential business information. At the end of the day, most organizations, regardless of how open they may or may not be, require a certain level of security around their data, intellectual property and personal information.
So how to implement a successful BYOD program?