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  • April 26, 2019
  • Photo: Basket of colorful handcrafted dyed Easter eggs outdoors on the grass with one laid off to the side viewed high angle with copy space
Following the Easter long weekend, some employees may be receiving a little more cash this payday. British Columbia and Saskatchewan have more statutory holidays than the other provinces, with 10 each.  However, we honour fewer public holidays than are observed in...

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  • April 11, 2019
I am quite frequently asked this question. Administrative law is the body of law that governs administrative agencies. Administrative agencies are involved in virtually every aspect of our lives.  Examples include agencies that regulate food and drug products, securities commissions, local building...

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  • April 4, 2019
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Trudeau removed Ms. Wilson-Raybould and Dr. Jane Philpott from the Liberal party. The reason offered was that recording “conversations without consent” was unacceptable, and that an Attorney General recording a conversation with the Clerk of the...

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  • March 21, 2019
Does an employee have a right to see his or her own personnel file, without first obtaining the employer’s approval? If you are an employer, and an employee demands to see his or her personnel file, must you oblige? In B.C., Alberta...

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  • March 14, 2019
Is age relevant in dismissals? Under Canadian common law, an employer is able to dismiss a non-unionized employee in only one of two ways. One is with just cause. This is generally difficult, though not impossible, for an employer to establish. The second...

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  • March 7, 2019
In R. v. Reeves, the Supreme Court of Canada recently considered the extent of a person's privacy rights in a shared computer.  This was a criminal case that centered on whether the police had properly seized the shared computer. Mr. Reeves...

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  • February 28, 2019
Just when it seems that the scandal currently plaguing the federal government could not get much worse, the federal government may have another trick up its sleeve. First, some background. The federal government’s procurement website states that “in 2015, we introduced...

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  • February 21, 2019
In a recent decision in Envirocon Environmental Services, ULC v. Suen, the BC Court of Appeal confirmed that in order to establish discrimination in employment on the basis of family status, a human rights complainant must show: (1)    a change in...

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  • February 14, 2019
On September 19, 2018, amendments to the Criminal Code came into force establishing Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPAs), for the first time in Canada. They had at that time escaped the radar, slipped into an omnibus bill, labeled “remediation agreements.” DPAs...

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  • February 8, 2019
A recent B.C. Human Rights Tribunal case involved a twist, in which Caucasian employees claimed their Asian boss had discriminated against them at work. This was a reversal of the more common situation where discrimination is alleged against a member...

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