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  • November 20, 2019
  • Photo, Pexels: woman-sleeping-935777
The B.C. Court of Appeal recently released a decision in which justice was done in a very sad case.  The case involved a woman named Ms. Tanious. Just before starting a new job in 2005, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis...

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  • November 12, 2019
  • Photo: "Don Cherry" by mark6mauno is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
Don Cherry was notoriously loud, outspoken and colourful, both in what he said and in what he wore. He was a permanent fixture on the Canadian hockey scene. That came to an end this past Monday, Remembrance Day 2019. After making a...

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  • November 7, 2019
  • Image: "Search." by Jeffrey Beall is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
When an organization becomes aware of a potential problem, such as sexual harassment, discrimination, drug use or trafficking, embezzlement or safety violations, one of the first things to do is investigate. Whether you are a complainant, an employee under investigation, a...

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  • October 31, 2019
  • Photo: Pixabay, courtesy of Pexels
There is a somewhat new kid on the insurance block in Canada. Employment Practices Liability insurance, or EPL for short.  It is more popular in the United States, but in recent years, has been making inroads in Canada. In the United...

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  • October 24, 2019
  • Photo: "SA teachers to strike today" by publik16 is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Some believe that class sizes in Okanagan schools are rigidly limited to a certain number of students: 20 in kindergarten, 22 in grades 1-3, 28 in intermediate split classes, 30 in certain other classes, and so on. This is not...

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  • October 16, 2019
  • Photo: "Learning to read" by montessori toolkit is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Last week, we began looking at the ongoing dispute between the B.C. Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) and the B.C. government.    In 2011 and 2014, two British Columbia Supreme Court decisions sided with the BCTF. Both decisions held that the government’s attempts...

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  • October 10, 2019
  • Photo: "IMG_1500" by critical_matt is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0
British Columbia teachers are presently without a collective agreement. The issues go back decades. The most recent iteration dates back about 17 years.  Class size and class composition have been key issues. Class composition refers to the number of special needs...

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  • October 3, 2019
  • "Himaya" by Souha Nasri is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
Today, a story about how a simple act by just one person improved someone else’s life. Early one morning, person A was traveling to work. It was still dark. The streets were quiet. He sat at the traffic light near his...

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  • September 23, 2019
  • "Lumber" by Starbug is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Why is the forestry industry suddenly in decline? Does NAFTA 2.0, also known as CUSMA, also known as the USMCA, have anything to do with it? For months now, we have been hearing about declines in B.C.’s forestry industry. Many workers...

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  • September 16, 2019
  • The New Westminster courthouse at night. "courthouse steps" by Graham Ballantyne is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
It happens even to law firms.  An employer who fails to handle a dismissal with great care risks being on the wrong side of a stinging judicial decision. This recently happened to a Vancouver based law firm which specializes in “driving law.” The...

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