As Baby Boomers hit retirement age, the issue of employees working into their Golden Years raises potential legal issues for employers.

Two thousand twelve marks the year the Baby Boomers start to turn 65. Due to improved health or poor returns on retirement investments, many Boomers are planning to work longer.

This poses both an opportunity and a challenge for employers. For those facing shortages of skilled labour, having workers who want to work longer, whether on a full-time or part-time basis, is good. For employers with employees who cannot meet their required performance, this is a...

January 25, 2012 The Legalist: Human Resource Management

The Price of a 24/7 Work Culture

BlackBerrys and other mobile devices make it easy to continue working outside a regular 9-5 day. But what's the 24/7 work culture really costing us?

While in Germany a few weeks ago, I came across an interesting story in the news. A union representing some of Volkswagen’s 191,000 employees negotiated a deal whereby management agreed to stop routing e-mails 30 minutes after the end of employees’ shifts, and not resume until 30 minutes before the beginning of their next shift.

That a union, typically concerned...

October 19, 2011 The Legalist: Transportation

Facebook Shake-up: Flight Attendants, Air Canada, and CUPE

Workers’ ability to connect on social media casts a new variable into CUPE’s labour negotiations with Air Canada.

Air Canada’s flight attendants recently rejected the second tentative deal between the company and their union, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). That their union twice failed to have brokered deals accepted is noteworthy, and it highlight unprecedented role of social...

February 15, 2011 The Legalist: Social Media

The Legalist Moves for Recess

The Legalist takes a short break while BCBusiness team amps up for a site redesign.

While BCBusiness undertakes its fanciest makeover yet – expect to see a new site, on new information architecture, in June 2011 – The Legalist will be taking a break.

Resident employment-law guru Nicole Byres has been diligently blogging for over a year, and leaves a wealth of legal intel for you to peruse in her absence, including a popular series on Social Media in the Workplace.

This blog...

January 20, 2011 The Legalist: Legal

Human Rights in Employment: Do You Need a Tune Up?

One clumsy – and unintentional – remark could result in a violation of human rights. How can managers stay vigilant?

Most businesses know the basics when it comes to human rights. Forbidden as discriminatory in hiring or managing: Decisions based on race, colour, ancestry, place of origin, religion, marital status, family status, physical or mental disability, sex, sexual orientation, or age.

In my experience, businesses don’t usually intend to discriminate against employees or job applicants. Intention, however, is not required for an employer to be found guilty of discriminatory...

January 06, 2011 The Legalist: Strategic Management

Mergers & Acquisitions II: Maximizing Value

Take it from an employment lawyer – anticipating human resources issues and planning accordingly will ensure that the transaction is a success and achieves all of its potential value.

In my last post, I detailed the five deadly sins of mergers and acquisitions (M&As). This post reviews some of the lessons learned over my career as an employment and business lawyer.