United States: California Employers Should Be Prepared To Comply With California's Law Making Companies Liable For Staffing Company/Labor Contractors' Wage-And-Hour And Other Employment Violations

Executive Summary:  Employers in California should be prepared to comply with the requirements of Assembly Bill No. 1897, which, as discussed in our prior alert, increases liability for most companies who use contract labor for their operations. The law is scheduled to take effect January 1, 2015.
Expansion of Liability
Previously, California law only extended limited liability in certain industries and upon a showing that the contracting company knew or should have known that the contract […]

By | December 10th, 2014 ||

Canada: Back To Basics: HRTO Follows Figliola And Refuses To Allow Relitigation Of WSIB Claim

In 2011, the Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in British Columbia (Workers’ Compensation Board) v Figliola (“Figliola”). The Figliola decision addressed the issue of the relitigation by human rights tribunals of issues already addressed in other proceedings.

In Figliola, several claimants brought claims under workplace compensation legislation for benefits. The claimants were unhappy with the results of those complaints. They then brought complaints before the Human Rights Tribunal flowing from the denial of […]

By | December 9th, 2014 ||

United States: Do You Want Employees To Stop Filing Harassment Claims? Try Positive Reinforcement

This weekend, as I was revising a position statement an associate had drafted for me and I wrote that an argument was a good argument, I was reminded of a slightly sad discussion with another associate that made me question how we as lawyers generally relate to employees.  All too often in the desire to make things perfect for clients and the rush to meet litigation deadlines, I think we edit documents only to […]

By | December 9th, 2014 ||