JANUARY 24, 2012

8:30

Registration and Continental Breakfast

9:00

Welcoming Remarks from Insight Information

9:05

Co-Chairs' Opening Remarks

Sandra I. Banister, Q.C.
Banister & Company

Kevin O'Neill 
Partner
Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP

9:15

Who is an Employee? Are Management Exclusions Expanding?

Allan E. Black, Q.C.
Partner
Black Gropper

Eric J. Harris, Q.C. 
Partner
Harris & Company

Gavin Hume, Q.C. 
Associate Counsel
Harris & Company LLP

David Blair 
Partner
Victory Square Law Office LLP
 

• Trying to certify
• Who are employees?
• In what bargaining unit?
• Are management exclusions expanding?
• When does an employment relationship exist under Human Rights legislation?
• Implications of the wrong assessment for both parties
• Recent relevant case law

10:15

Networking Coffee Break

10:30

The Impact of the Employment Standards Act in the Context of a Unionized Workplace and a Collective Agreement

Derrill Thompson 
Main Street Law Group

Michael J. Weiler
Associate Counsel
Boughton Law Corporation

When the ESA intersects with a collective agreement, things aren't always straight forward! This session will get you up to speed on what you need to know and will highlight some of the more interesting cases that have been decided.

• Why is this topic relevant? Haakon Industries (Canada) Ltd. vs. Sheet Metal Workers' International Association, Local 280
• What parts of the ES Act apply when there is a collective agreement in place and what does not (Section 3 exclusions)?
• Does one appeal to the LRB or the Courts (Sections 99 v. 100 of the Labour Relations Code) – a roundup of recent cases
• Can employers deduct wages contrary to Section 21? HEABC v. BCNU, 2005 BCCA 343
• Group terminations – Sections 64/67 Weyerhaeuser Company Ltd. v. IWA – Canada, Local 2171, 2004 BCCA 6
• Who is Family? Section 52 West Fraser Mills Ltd (Eurocan Pulp and Paper) v. CEP Union of Canada, Local 298, 2008 BCCA 403
• Importance of record keeping

11:30

Ins and Outs of Collective Agreements and STD and LTD Plans

Anne Harvey 
Vice President, Employee Engagement
Vancouver Coastal Health

Susan Spratt 
Area Director, British Columbia, Alberta
CAW-Canada

• Is performance management harassment?
• Managing employees who use STD as a means to avoid discipline
• Employees who file STD claims following discipline
• Privacy issues re medical information
• When the employee returns – performance expectations following stress leaves
• When the employee doesn't return, but doesn't resign
  • frustration of contract vs. job abandonment
• Employees who stay off work and use social media to justify doing so
• Joint union/management process for dealing with complaints

12:20

Networking Luncheon

1:20

Keynote Luncheon Address

The Workplace Bullying Epidemic

Valerie Cade, CSP
Workplace Bullying Expert, Speaker and AuthorBully Free At Work

Valerie Cade is considered as one of North America's top experts in workplace bullying, she is an international speaker and she is author of the bestselling book Bully Free at Work: What You Can Do To Stop Workplace Bullying Now!

√ Do you have employees coming to you asking you to solve complex conflict situations?
√ Feel overwhelmed because you'd like to help but you are not sure how?

In this session you will gain:

• A clear understanding of how to identify workplace bullying situations
• 2 – 3 key resolution strategies
• A renewed sense of hope

2:45

Networking Refreshment Break

3:00

Workplace Safety: Conflicting Obligations – The Push and Pull of Reporting

Stephen Hunt 
Director
United Steelworkers District 3

Ron Corbeil 
Health & Safety Coordinator
United Steelworkers District 3

• The tension between reporting incidents to WCB and safety obligations
• Investigation and report of worker injuries:
  • What are the obligations to report?
  • What are the obligations to investigate?
  • Penalties for disregarding occupational health and safety regulations
• Legal rights and responsibilities of employers
• Legal rights and responsibilities of workers
• What can employers do to demonstrate due diligence in the workplace?
• Stressed employees – a safety issue?
• Reporting – will the Blue Mountain decision in Ontario have an impact across Canada?

4:00

Damages: Who Can Sue, Where Do You Go, and What Do You Get?

Craig Bavis 
Partner
Victory Square Law Office LLP

Donald J. Jordan, Q.C. 
Partner
Taylor Jordan Chafetz

• Appropriate forum – court or arbitration?
• Burden of proof and heads of damage – what losses are recoverable?
• Strategic considerations – "fixed factory overburden" or "loss of profit"
• When can an employer seek damages against a union or employees for an illegal strike?
• What is the forum for pursuing employer damage claims?
• When will arbitrators award damages to employees beyond wage loss?
• What is the impact of Arbitrator Shime's award in PSAC 0004 v. Greater Toronto Airport Authority?

5:00

Conference Adjourns for the Day

JANUARY 25, 2012

8:30

Continental Breakfast

9:00

Twitter On – The Use of Social Media by Bargaining Unit and Non-Union Employees in the Workplace

Carman J. Overholt Q.C. 
Partner
Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP

Juliana Saxberg 
Director of Legal Services
Saskatchewan Government and General Employees' Union (Regina)

• The forms of social media relevant to the workplace
• What limitations on access to social media sites are reasonable?
• Unique issues presented by the use of social media by bargaining unit employees
• The expectation of privacy in the workplace in light of the R. v. Cole decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal and the nature of policies for the use of social media in the workplace
• Decisions of arbitrators, labour relations boards, human rights tribunals and the Courts in establishing standards to be applied in the proper use of social media and the nature of discipline being upheld
• Can an employer discipline for "off-duty" misuse of social media?
• How far does an employee's "duty of loyalty" extend?
• Decisions of Labour Boards, Tribunals and the Courts in the United States
• Social media and collective bargaining

10:00

Networking Coffee Break

10:15

DEMO by FORENSIC SPECIALIST

Validity and Authenticity of Evidence: Unearthing Proof

Dave McKay 
Program Coordinator & Instructor
BCIT Forensic Science & Technology

• What can be retrieved?
• Refresher on how evidence can often be recovered, even after attempts have been made to destroy it
• Refresher on how evidence can never be destroyed; how email chains can implicate others and cause subpoenas of others' emails
• Validity and authenticity of evidence – can it be altered or manipulated?
• The latest digital software and techniques used to recover evidence

11:00

Disability Accommodation Update: Rights, Responsibilities and Requirements

Murphy Fries
Associate
Fiorillo Glavin Gordon

Delayne M. Sartison
Partner
Roper Greyell LLP

Substantive Issues:

• New cases illustrating how far the employer's duty to accommodate extends
• Cases highlighting extended obligations (family care, etc.)

Procedural Issues:

• What is generally required in the search of appropriate accommodation?
• How much medical evidence is required when assessing appropriate accommodation and when is an employer entitled to review it?
• Determining whether the employer's accommodation assessment was sufficient
  • Brewer's Distributor Ltd. v. Brewery, Winery and Distillery Workers' Union, Local 300 (Peebles Grievance), [2011] B.C.C.A.A.A. No. 49
• Fair treatment of employees
  • Emergency Health and Services Commission v. Cassidy, [2011] B.C.J. No. 1426
• Who bears the onus of finding accommodation and what are each party's responsibilities?
• What if the Employee/Union will not accept the accommodation offered?

12:00

Networking Luncheon

12:45

Keynote Luncheon Address

Practice Points from New Tribunal Members – How We See It

Robert B. Blasina 
Member
BC Human Rights Tribunal

Norman K. Trerise 
Member
BC Human Rights Tribunal

1:30

Impairment from Fatigue, Drugs and/or Alcohol: Employers' Right to Know in a Safety-Sensitive Setting

Micah J. Field 
Counsel
Blakely & Dushenski (Edmonton)

Kevin O'Neill 
Partner
Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP

• Drug and/or alcohol policies: Common issues, including zero tolerance, random testing, drug vs. alcohol testing
• Entrop v. Imperial Oil (2000), 50 O.R. 3d 18 (C.A.) and safety sensitive environments revisited: Where are we now?
• Communications Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, Local 30 v. Irving Pulp & Paper, Limited, 2011 NBCA 58: Random alcohol testing – a distinction between hazardous and ultra-hazardous workplaces?
• Poudres Métalliques: Is it reasonable to include fatigue as a cause of impairment that affects work performance?
• Rio Tinto Alcan Primary Metal and C.A.W. – Canada, Local 2301 (Drug and Alcohol Policy) (2011), 204 L.A.C. (4th) 265: Mandatory testing and associated discipline for non-compliance in all cases of suspected impairment, regardless of cause, goes too far
• Arbitral trends: Privacy – are employees' rights becoming increasingly paramount? Is the balance shifting?

2:30

Networking Refreshment Break

2:40

Update on Privacy Rights: Balancing Competing Interests from Hiring to Firing

Rebecca Murdock 
Barrister & Solicitor
IBEW 258

Earl Phillips 
Partner
McCarthy Tétrault LLP

• Hiring – avoiding discrimination claims when using social media to "screen" applicants
• References
• What privacy rights can employees expect?
• ICBC requests – what are they entitled to have?
• Rights, duties and obligations when police become involved in employee investigations
• Facial recognition software –if photo records are requested for identification of individuals suspected of involvement in criminal activity, what are the options? Would this breach privacy rights?
• Privacy obligations upon termination of employment

3:30

The A – Z of Grievance Procedures: How to Save Time and Money Before You Present a Compelling Arbitration Case

Emily M. Burke 
Arbitrator - Mediator

Gretchen Brown
Legal Counsel
British Columbia Teachers' Federation

Peter F. Parsons
Partner
Farris, Vaughan, Wills & Murphy LLP

What are the steps you can take that will save you the most money and time? What convinces an arbitrator and what does not? How can you provide the arbitrator with creative options for resolving apparently complex issues?

• Understanding the grievance, your client and the arbitrator:
  • Burdens and sufficiency of evidence
• Do you know what the other side thinks the dispute is about?
  • When to seek pre-hearing disclosure
  • When is "med/arb" appropriate?
• What managers can do
• What unions can do
• Fact finding • Note taking
• What each side can do to prepare its case:
  • How and when to prepare an agreed statement of fact
  • How to properly prepare a witness
• What arbitrators want to see
• Remedies - how "thinking outside of the box" can help your case

4:30

This conference has been approved by the Law Society of British Columbia and the Law Society of Saskatchewan for 10.25 hours.

• Vice Presidents, Directors & Managers of:
  • Labour Relations
  • Employee Relations
  • Human Resources
  • Benefits
• Chief Negotiators
• Union Presidents, Officials, Business Agents, Stewards and Committee Members
• In-house Counsel

• Labour & Employment Lawyers
• Labour and Industrial Relations Practitioners Mediators, Arbitrators and Conciliators
• Directors & Managers of Occupational Health, Safety & Environment
• Supervisors & Plant Managers
• Return-to-Work Managers
• Labour Relations Consultants
• Government Representatives

Dear Colleague:

There are many conferences on Labour Relations. What makes one better than the others is the excellence of the presenters and the relevance of their topics. This is the case with Insight Information's 7th Annual Labour Relations conference in Western Canada.

With rapidly changing demographics influencing workplace policies and priorities, both union and management labour relations experts are expected to stay on top of evolving issues. From its opening topic "Who is an Employee? Are Management Exclusions Expanding?" through to the closing session "The A-Z of Grievance Procedures: How to Save Time and Money Before You Present a Compelling Arbitration Case", you will find this timely program addresses a diverse mix of issues that have a "real world" impact on your organization.

This conference offers excellent value. Insight Information has assembled a stellar faculty of union and management experts who are "in the action" day in and day out representing employers, unions and employees. You will receive valuable, practical tips in addition to excellent papers on the various topics. The presenters have a variety of backgrounds but the same qualities – they are all highly qualified, have great success records, and a strong dedication to their craft.

As a special feature, Valerie Cade, author of Bully Free at Work will provide participants with full awareness, hope and implementation tools to help stop workplace bullying both personally and organizationally. Valerie's presentation offers a process for buy-in that will inspire the respectful workplace you deserve. On the second day, new BC Human Rights Tribunal members Norman Trerise and Robert Blasina will share insights and practice points.

Rarely have so many leading experts representing both union and management been brought together in a single conference. All in all, we are sure you will find this conference most worthwhile. We hope you will be able to attend and we look forward to your feedback. Yours truly, Sandra I. Banister, Q.C. Banister & Company

Sandra I. Banister, Q.C. 
Banister & Company

Kevin O'Neill 
Partner
Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP

MEDIA PARTNER

Register 3 delegates for the main conference at regular price at the same time and you're entitled to register a fourth person from your organization at no charge. For other group discounts, please call 1-888-777-1707. All discounts must be redeemed when booking, discounts will not be valid or applied after this time.