Workplace Policies

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Workplace harassment and the employer’s duty to correct it
Photo by Roland Samuel on Unsplash

Occupational health and safety legislation in Ontario protects workers from the risk and harm of harassment at work. Under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) employers have a legal duty to guard against and correct workplace harassment no matter how small the team. 

Here are some things to keep in mind regarding workplace safety and the employer’s obligations. 

Harassment Can Go By Many Names

Bullying is harassment. Employees sometimes think that the form of harassment they are facing is less serious than the harassment that OHSA targets. But any euphemism for harassment, like bullying or mocking, doesn’t make it less harmful to workplace health and safety. Even lighthearted bullying can count as harassment under OHSA and the employer will have a duty to prevent and act on it. OHSA says that:
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COVID-19 Vaccine FAQs for Employers
Photo by Eugene Chystiakov on Unsplash

More than 13 million people in Canada are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, yet we’re finding employers are more and more worried about those who still aren’t and don’t plan to be. 

Below, we answer some of the questions we are hearing from employers and set out what we think they should be considering.

1. Can I implement a mandatory vaccination policy in my workplace?

The question is really would it be reasonable to do so? This will depend on the context of the workplace and what other safety measures can be appropriately taken. If there isn’t a high risk of infection in the workplace, it won’t be reasonable. If the work is performed without exposure to risk, for instance by working remotely, then the answer is easier—it’s absolutely unreasonable.
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Results-Only Work Environments
Photo by Helena Lopes on Unsplash

It’s no secret that one of the keys to happiness at work is a sense of control. With most knowledge workers having shifted to working from home, perhaps with more built-in flexibility, and with managers having had to let go of their need to be able to physically supervise, some workplaces may consider revisiting the idea of Results-Only Work Environments (ROWE).

What is a Results-Only Work Environment?

In a results-only work environment, the focus is autonomy and accountability. Employees are not subject to requirements like being at their desk or available via Slack from 9 – 5. How and when they get work done is up to them. What the employer focuses on is results and only results. If a full-time employee takes only 20 hours a week to fulfill their duties, in a ROWE workplace that’s fine! The other 20 hours are their own.   
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manager exemption for overtime
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Last week we wrote about ways employers can manage overtime liabilities with Averaging Agreements and Time in Lieu. This week we will tackle a commonly litigated overtime issue – the manager exemption. 

The Manager Exemption 

Not every worker is entitled to overtime pay. Exemptions are set out in section 8 of Ontario Regulation 285.1 under the Employment Standards Act, 2000. Included in the list of the exempt is the manager or, to be exact, “a person whose work is supervisory or managerial in character and who may perform non-supervisory or non-managerial tasks on an irregular or exceptional basis.” Who exactly falls under this exemption can be unclear. 
Continue Reading Overtime Part 2: The Manager Exemption

SpringLaw is 4!!!!  To celebrate our 4-year anniversary, thank our clients and welcome non-client businesses who are looking for a new way to receive legal services, we are pleased to offer The 444 Toolkit.

The 444 Toolkit is a collection of our most highly sought-after resources our clients ask for every day:

  • 4 core legal templates
  • 4 of our most popular workplace law guides
  • 4 helpful checklists

If you are a small business owner, looking to update your core legal docs and needing some guidance to navigate this ongoing rollercoaster of the pandemic, this workplace law toolkit is for you!

THIS IS A DEEPLY DISCOUNTED, TIME-LIMITED OFFER!
Continue Reading The 444 Employment Law Toolkit

romance in the workplaceSpringLaw’s Lisa Stam joined ADP’s Jeff Livingstone, host of the Insights@Work podcast for a conversation about romance in the workplace.

As Jeff explains, “When professional and personal lives co-mingle, it’s only natural that romantic work relationships happen.  While merging romance and work might sound like an ideal situation, navigating office politics and HR policies present…