Corinna Traill

ABSTRACT

On December 10, 1992, a set of amendments to the construction provisions in the Ontario Labour Relations Act was introduced “to promote greater democracy and local control in the relationship between internationally based parent construction unions and their Ontario locals” by giving Ontario-based construction locals greater control over their own affairs. The main elements of the “Bill 80” amendments would extend to Ontario construction locals shared bargaining rights in the non Industrial, Commercial and Institutional sectors, and would provide to the locals greater control over the resolution of jurisdictional disputes within the trades, protection from interference or reprisals from the international parent unions and proportionate control over benefit plans.

Has the New Democratic Party government’s legislative initiative achieved its stated goal of enhancing the principles of autonomy and internal union democracy by enacting a law that brings a sense of balance and fairness to the relationship between local unions, their members and international parents”? Or have subsequent emendations rendered the provisions “toothless” and too susceptible to an interpretation by the Ontario Labour Relations Board which is unfavourable to local unions? These and related inquiries regarding the Bill 80 amendments will be conducted with regard to the history and influence of American labour law in Part I; the distinctly “cautious” character of labour law reform in Canada in Part II, Bill 80 itself and the legislative debate surrounding the proposed amendments to the OLRA in Part III and several significant Ontario Labour Relations Board decisions which help delineate the scope of Bill 80 in Part IV. I will conclude with a brief evaluation of the overall effectiveness of amendments to the OLRA in response to my initial inquiries within the described analytical framework.

Click [HERE] for a link to the full text of this paper.

Ontario Labour Relations in the Wake of Bill 80: An Analysis of the Legislative Attempt to Enhance Democracy and Autonomy in Ontario Construction Union Locals

Friday, May 13, 2011

Corinna Traill

On Friday May 13th, 2011, the Workers’ Action Centre, worker-based organization committed to improving the lives and working conditions of people working in low-wage and unstable employment, will be launching its provincial “Stop Wage Theft” Campaign.

The campaign is directed at pressuring the government to protect workers by prohibiting employers from “stealing” wages through non-payment of regular or overtime wages, from charging fees for job training and from characterizing employees as “independent contractors” or “self employed” when, in fact, workers are employees of the particular employer!

Indeed, many companies, especially in the construction, cleaning and door-to-door sales industries, will falsely describe employees as “independent contractors” in order to deprive them of the many protections owed under Canadian labour legislation including minimum wage, overtime and Employment Insurance.

This initiative by the Workers’ Action Centre is consistent with similar campaigns launched in the United States, where many states have, in response to public and political pressure to crack down on “bad employers”, enacted wage theft laws.

The Stop Wage Theft Campaign Calls on the Provincial Government to:

• Make all employers follow the law in all workplaces.
• Update labour laws to protect all workers.
• Increase the minimum wage to bring workers out of poverty.
• Ensure equal status and protection for all workers regardless of immigration status.
• Fix Employment Insurance.

You can get more information on the Workers’ Action Centre, obtain employment information – including free pamphlets outlining your workplace rights – and join the Stop Wage Theft Campaign.

If you wish to report an instance of “Wage Theft” in your workplace, call the WAC hotline at (416) 531-0778.

Guest Speaker

Brian Gorlick

Director of the United Nations 

 

Office of Staff Legal Assistance (OSLA)

An Osgoode and Parkdale Community Legal Services alumnus

WEDNESDAY November 17^th @ 1:30 pm in Room 107

OSLA provides legal assistance to UN employees in a range of areas of law related to their employment (employment contracts, discipline, pensions harassment, and administrative law more generally).  OSLA has approximately 60,000 potential clients, seven lawyer positions and offices in Nairobi, Beruit, Geneva and Addis Abbiba. OSLA is based at UN Headquarters in New York, with one legal officer each in Addis Ababa, Beirut, Geneva and Nairobi. OSLA may work in cooperation with UN staff members or former staff members who have legal experience, as well as pro bono external counsel.

We will be meeting out front of the MoL (at Dundas and University) around 2:15. Many thanks and we will be looking forward to seeing you there!

Please RSVP on the Facebook event or send an email to ericmarques@osgoode.yorku.ca with Ministry of Labour Tour in the subject.

Thanks,

OLELS
Our Facebook Page

Jeremy Warning

Jeremy Warning, Heenan Blaikie LLP

Jeremy Warning is a senior associate in our Labour and Employment Law Group. He advises the firm’s provincial, national and international clients on a full range of labour and employment matters. Jeremy also provides representation to the firm’s clients before the provincial and federal courts, administrative tribunals and before boards of arbitration.

Prior to joining Heenan Blaikie, Jeremy spent seven years with the Ministry of the Attorney General (Ontario) where he was seconded to the Legal Services Branch of the Ministry of Labour. During that time he conducted numerous trials and appeals involving Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) and Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA) charges, and appeared before all levels of court in Ontario. Jeremy has also appeared before the Ontario Labour Relations Board in many administrative appeals relating to OHSA and ESA matters and has acted as counsel at coroner’s inquests.

Jeremy’s extensive knowledge of the OHSA and the ESA has led to a particular specialty in providing strategic and practical advice on these statutes. He gives proactive advice when regulators are at the door, and provides representation to employers and managers in regulatory prosecutions and appeals.

Jeremy is a co-author of the Annotated Occupational Health and Safety Act, a leading Ontario text used by corporate counsel, occupational health and safety and human resource practitioners, and law firms.

Called to the Ontario Bar in 2002, Jeremy joined Heenan Blaikie in 2008.

Education
LL.B., University of Western Ontario, 2000
B.A. (Honours), York University, 1997

Areas of Expertise
Occupational Health & Safety
Labour Relations Board
Employment Standards
Labour & Employment Law
Regulatory & Public Law
Employment Litigation
Grievance Arbitration
Administrative & Constitutional Law
Appellate Litigation & Judicial Review
Workers’ Compensation

Lewis Gottheil, Director of Legal Department, Canadian Autoworkers’ Union (CAW)

Lewis Gottheil has been the Director of CAW-Canada’s Legal Department since 1990. He has appeared before a diverse range of employment and labour relations tribunals, including the Ontario Human Rights Board of Inquiry and the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, as well as before all levels of superior courts, on behalf of the CAW-Canada and its membership. He graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1980 and between 1982 and 1989, he was an associate/partner at the law firm of MacLean, Chercover.

Laurie Kent

Laurie Kent, Koskie Minsky LLP

Laurie is an associate in the Koskie Minsky Labour & Employment Group. With a practice focus on labour law, she works closely with other members of the firm in preparing and presenting complex labour matters before administrative tribunals and the court. Laurie works exclusively in the area of labour relations and has represented clients before the Ontario Labour Relations Board, the Workplace Safety & Insurance Board, the Grievance Settlement Board, and at private arbitrations. Laurie has extensive experience in the area of occupational health and safety.

Prior to her legal career, Laurie was actively involved with the labour movement. She instructed courses designed to assist shop stewards in understanding their role and responsibilities at the workplace and to enable them to better understand and interpret collective agreement language. Laurie worked with trade unions in Mexico and spoke at a number of conferences on the impact of globalization on organized labour.

Laurie has contributed to the debate on interim relief in labour relations matters and wrote an article for the Lawyers Weekly on this topic. She is a member of the Canadian Bar Association and regularly participates in the labour relations and administrative divisions of the Ontario Bar Association.

Daniel Chodos

Daniel Chodos, Kuretsky Vassos Henderson LLP

Daniel Chodos is a graduate of Queen’s Law School. Daniel joined Kuretzky Vassos Henderson LLP as an associate following his call to the Bar of Ontario in 2009. He assists employers and employees in a wide range of employment-related matters.

Daniel articled with the law firm of Hicks Morley LLP, a labour and employment law boutique, where he assisted lawyers with labour, employment, workplace safety, human rights, and civil litigation files. While he was a law student, Daniel worked in the Legal Services department of the Public Service Labour Relations Board. He was also a successful participant in the Mathews Dinsdale Labour Law Moot in 2008, and interviewed prominent legal figures as a staff writer for the Queen’s Law web site.

Raj Dhir

Raj Dhir, Director of Litigation, Ministry of Labour

Raj Dhir is a Deputy Director with the Ministry of Labour’s Legal Services Branch. He is responsible for the Ministry’s Litigation Practice which includes Occupational Health and Safety Act prosecutions under the Provincial Offences Act, appeals of Health and Safety Inspectors’ orders and Employment Standards Officers’ orders to the Ontario Labour Relations Board, the Ministry’s appellate and judicial review practices, and coroners’ inquests. Previously Raj was responsible for the Solicitor Practice which included providing legal support for the Ministry’s legislative, regulatory and policy initiatives.

Prior to working at the Ministry of Labour, Raj was a senior counsel with the Ontario Human Rights Commission where he litigated a wide variety of human rights complaints before the Human Rights Tribunal, argued judicial reviews and appeals at all court levels, and appeared as an intervener before the Supreme Court of Canada. Raj was one of the founding members of SALCO (South Asian Legal Clinic Ontario) and served as SALCO Chair for two years. Raj has a B.Sc. from McGill University, an LL.B from the University of Windsor, a J.D. from the University of Detroit, and an LLM in Labour and Employment Law from Osgoode Hall Law School.

CAREERS IN

LABOUR & EMPLOYMENT LAW

WEDNESDAY OCT. 20^th @ 12:30 pm
Osgoode Room 106
A light lunch will be provided.
There will also be a Q&A and networking period

Hear from prominent legal professionals on careers in:

Management-side Occupational Health & Safety
Jeremy Warning, Heenan Blaikie LLP

In-House, Union-side Labour Law
Lewis Gottheil, Canadian Autoworkers’ Union (CAW)

Union-Side Labour Law
Laurie Kent, Koskie Minsky LLP

General Employment & Labour Law
Daniel Chodos, Kuretsky Vassos Henderson LLP

Government-side Employment Standards Enforcement
Raj Dhir, Deputy Director of Litigation, Ministry of Labour

This is a fantastic opportunity to network with prospective employers outside the OCI process!  As these firms hire 1L, 2L, and articling students, all are encouraged to attend!

While claims of workplace discrimination are raised all the time, a recent case at Windsor University hits especially close to home.  A law professor of Indian ancestry has filed a complaint with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, alleging she was denied the law school’s deanship on sexist and racist grounds.

Professor Emily Carasco was one of two candidates shortlisted by a search committee set up by the law school to look for the new Dean. After her colleague, Professor Richard Moon, confronted the committee the day before her final interview with allegations that she plagiarized sections of her co-authored book, the search committee decided to reject both shortlisted candidates and start a new search.  Dr. Carasco adamantly denies the allegations of academic dishonesty. Dr. Carasco claims the search committee neglected to properly investigate the allegation because it was looking for a reason to reject a female of minority background from becoming Dean, despite her record as a tenured faculty member and a Harvard Law graduate.  Stating in her complaint that she still cannot understand how the committee could deny her the job, she also calls attention to statistical evidence, noting the Windsor Law’s long history of predominantly white male deans.

While Dr. Carasco is not the first to claim that a law school was discriminatory, her compliant is unique for some of the specific remedies she requests.  Apart from the request that Professor Moon and the University provide financial compensation in the amounts of $15,000 and $60,000 respectfully, she requests the Tribunal stay the new Dean search and appoint her to the position for a full five-year term.  S.45.2(1) of the Ontario’s Human Rights Code states the Tribunal has the power to order any party to a complaint to “do anything that, in the opinion of the Tribunal, the party ought to do to promote compliance with [the] Act”.  With such a broad remedial power, it appears to be within the Tribunal’s legal power to order that Dr. Carasco be appointed the new Dean. However, there is a question of whether such a dramatic, precedent-setting step is appropriate.  While I do not know how the Tribunal will answer this question, I do think its decision will ultimately rest on the credibility of the evidence of plagiarism and whether the committee was unreasonable in deciding not conducting a full investigation.

To see a copy of Emily Carasco’s official complaint with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, CLICK HERE.