HR Compliance for the Hybrid Workplace
The Ontario Employment Law Conference is the best opportunity for employers to Learn the Latest about evolving and challenging HR compliance requirements for the changing workplace.
9:00 am
Welcome and Conference Opening
9:05 am
Jeremy Schwartz
Workplace Harassment: Legal Compliance and Beyond
- Obligations under legislation
- Harassment in the remote workplace
- Harassment as just cause vs willful misconduct under the Employment Standards Act, 2000
- Overview of best practices for responding to and preventing harassment complaints
- Can employees sue in the courts for sexual harassment?
9:50 am
Jeff Murray
Employee Liabilities For Related Entities and When Buying a Business
- Common and related employer concepts explained and how related entities can be held liable to employees
- Who is responsible for past service when buying a business and the risk of taking on liabilities such as for accrued vacation pay
- Negotiating of new employment contracts with employees
- How union bargaining rights and collective agreements can apply to related or successor employers in a restructuring or sale of business
10:30 am
Q&A + Break
10:45 am
Ryan Conlin
Managing the Risk of Millions of Dollars in OHS Liability for Contractors
- How employers can reduce the risk of liability for injuries suffered by employees of sub-contractors.
- How to pre-qualify contractors
- Strategies for creating an effective documentary record of due diligence
- The special challenge of expert contractors
- The consequences of the up-coming blockbuster Supreme Court decision in Sudbury
11:15 am
Haadi Malik
The Post-Pandemic Workplace
- Do vaccination policies matter anymore?
- Potential long term implications of caselaw arising from the pandemic
- Can employers force employees back to the office?
- Revisiting your policies (accommodation, sick leaves, remote work) in the wake of the pandemic
11:45 am
Morning Sessions Q&A
12:15 pm
Lunch Break
1:00 pm
First Reference Product Demo
1:15 am
Allison Taylor
Wrongful Dismissal Law Roundup
- Deductibility of CERB benefits from wrongful dismissal damages
- Recent notice period awards
- When will employees be found to have failed to mitigate their damages
- The latest on the enforceability of termination clauses
2:00pm
Landon Young
Compliance with the Employment Standards Act, 2000
- New changes coming with Bill 79
- “Use it or lose it policies” and vacation accruals
- Overview of ESA policy requirements
- The prohibition on non-competes
- Overtime and common mistakes made by employers
- ESA leaves of absence and EI sickness benefits changes
2:45 pm
Break
3:00 pm
Landon Young
Jeff Murray
Jeremy Schwartz
Ryan Conlin
Privacy Law Developments
- Vicarious liability of employers for acts of employees
- Does the “privacy tort” apply when companies with personal information are hacked
- Roundup of changes in privacy legislation
Employment Litigation in the Post-Pandemic World
- How the courts are hearing cases and the post-pandemic backlog
- Proceedings before employment and labour tribunals
- Review of decision on labour arbitrations by Zoom
Artificial Intelligence in the Workplace
- How A.I. may impact workplaces
- Potential legal risks in using A.I. tools for employee hiring and management decisions
- Legal trends addressing A.I. issues in other jurisdictions
New Competition Act Prohibitions on Poaching and Wage Fixing Agreements
- Review of new prohibitions regarding wage-fixing and no-poaching agreements between employers
- Exceptions to the new prohibitions
- How these prohibitions may practically apply to employers
3:50 pm
Afternoon Sessions Q&A
4:00 pm
