Thursday, June 25, 2009
12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. EDT
Playback: Monday, June 29, 3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. EDT

Rob Boswell

Employer Counsel
Craig Boswell McDermot

Anne Gregory

Union Counsel
Canadian Union of Public Employees

Leanne Chahley

Union Counsel
Blair Chahley

Michael Sherrard

Employer Counsel
Sherrard Kuzz

ISSUES:

In this session, a panel of experts will update listeners on the latest legal tests being applied by arbitrators to cases of discharge for incompetence and incapacity. Issues to be discussed include:

• How does the standard of just cause differ as between disciplinary and non-disciplinary termination?
  
• When will poor performance justify discharge? What steps must employers take prior to dismissing an employee for poor performance?
  
• Do the rules of progressive discipline and culminating incident apply when the employer is enforcing safety standards? When will a single safety infraction justify termination?
• How do arbitrators determine whether a response to a performance deficiency is disciplinary and therefore arbitrable or administrative and therefore not arbitrable?
• Are employees entitled to union representation during performance reviews, coaching or counselling sessions?
• Are probationary employees subject to different standards? What about temporary employees?
• What are an employer's obligations in circumstances where a worker has become incapacitated by illness or accident? Does the duty to accommodate require employers to apply lower performance standards to disabled workers? Or suspend performance reviews of disabled workers? At what point does accommodation reach the point of undue hardship, such that the employer may discharge a disabled employee?
• How do human rights considerations factor into the arbitral test used to determine whether dismissal for innocent absenteeism is justified? Can disability-related absenteeism be taken into account when deciding on discharge? Or substandard performance due to disability?
• Of what relevance are deemed termination clauses and last chance agreements in arbitral review of non-culpable discharges? Must the employer warn before dismissing for non-culpable absenteeism? Can employers dismiss for frustration of contract where the provision of LTD benefits is a term of employment?
• Are disabled employees entitled to severance payments and other benefits available to laid-off employees?

This Audio Conference has been approved by the Law Society of B.C. for 1.5 hours of 2009 Continuing Professional Development credits, and by the Law Society of Upper Canada for 1.5 hours towards the professional development requirement for certification.

$195, plus GST (Registrations must be paid in advance of the audio conference). Registration costs are per listening site/telephone, so you can have any number of people listening at your location for one low price. Click here for registration information.