Legal Words

Computer forensics and legal implications

By Aniko Kiss and Matthew Law

Companies frequently have to deal with departing employees who try to take confidential information to a competitor and/or use the company’s confidential information to poach its clients and customers.

Employees must meet the required criteria to qualify for entitlement

By Malcolm MacKillop, Hendrik Nieuwland and Amelia Cooke, with assistance from Seth Holland

As of Jan. 1, 2018, Ontario workers will be entitled to claim benefits from the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) for chronic mental stress injuries arising out of and in the course of their employment.

The same conduct may ground an award of damages for sexual harassment and moral damages

By Nadia Zaman

In a blog post about the Harvey Weinstein scandal and sexual harassment, Toronto lawyer Stuart Rudner of Rudner Law asserted that after the scandal took place, sexual harassment could no longer be seen as a “cost of doing business.” That may leave you wondering: what is the cost?

Unfair investigations can get employers in hot water

By Rich Appiah

An Alberta employee was recently awarded $75,000 for the reputational harm and mental distress he suffered from an unfair workplace investigation into his alleged misconduct and his employer’s unfounded allegations of cause for his dismissal. The decision in Lalonde v. Sena Solid Waste is another caution that employers will suffer significant financial penalty if they dismiss their employees in bad faith.

Copyright and patent ownership becomes more ambiguous in today’s flexible world of work

By Donya Vahidi

If employers are concerned about protecting their intellectual property, they should be aware of certain intellectual property ownership laws that govern ownership. While intellectual property covers a broad range of subject matter, the areas that are most commonly seen in the heart of employer-employee disputes are patents and copyrights, and to make matters interesting, the laws

With legislation changing constantly, how can HR professionals keep up?

By Karen Stone, CHRE

The past decade of employment law has seen more change than ever before. In Ontario, our commitment to strong human rights legislation is commendable – and it takes a lot of research, knowledge and fast-paced legal advancement to keep up with emerging areas of the law.