Stikeman Elliott
 
SITE SEARCH
Employment Labour & Pension
Employment & Labour
 

The Employment & Labour Group at Stikeman Elliott advises employers on all facets of the individual and collective employment relationship, both at the provincial and federal level. All members of the group have wide-ranging employment and labour law experience, and each has developed specific expertise in particular niche areas. This approach ensures that we can provide advice in a timely, cost-effective and efficient manner by calling upon appropriate, targeted resources.

While we often deliver our services on a continuing basis, we are also regularly involved in the employment and labour-related aspects of commercial transactions, including those arising from mergers, acquisitions, insolvency and receivership, and in strategic employment and human resource planning. Our advice includes negotiating the human resources aspects of a corporate transaction and drafting various related agreements including transition services agreements, employment agreements and restrictive covenant agreements.

 








View Seminar Webcasts




As part of our commitment to assist corporate leaders to establish and refine positive management and employee practices, we regularly provide in-house seminars and develop publications that address topical and timely employment issues. For foreign clients looking to invest in Canada, we have produced a Canadian Employment, Labour and Pension Law FAQ, outlining significant issues that companies should consider when entering the Canadian market.

Recognition for Our Work

The Group has been recognized as a leader in the Canadian marketplace by Chambers Global's Guide to the Leading Lawyers for Business. The Group has also been endorsed by PLC Which Lawyer?, with our Quebec practice cited in the area of labour and employment and our Ontario practice cited in the area of pensions and benefits.

Employment Law Services

We regularly assist employers and their executives with:

  • Business immigration and relocation;
  • Compliance with employment related statutes;
  • Director and officer liability issues and fiduciary duties;
  • Drafting and enforcing confidentiality, non-solicitation and non-competition covenants;
  • Employee drug and alcohol testing;
  • Employment contract and incentive compensation issues;
  • Employment-related class proceedings;
  • Health and safety in the workplace including the strategic planning of worker's compensation assessments (Quebec);
  • Human rights and harassment in the workplace;
  • Incentive compensation such as bonus plans and stock option plans;
  • Management education and training;
  • Managing chronically ill and absent employees;
  • Occupational health and safety;
  • Outsourcings, restructurings and plant and facility closures;
  • Pay equity;
  • Privacy and access to information issues in the employment setting;
  • Pleading employment-related litigation;
  • Privacy and access to information issues;
  • Proactive and strategic advice regarding relevant laws;
  • Reorganization and workforce reduction;
  • Strategic human resources planning;
  • Termination and severance practices and arrangements;
  • Transition and retention programs, and retirement benefits;
  • Workplace policies; and
  • Wrongful dismissal.

Labour Law Services

In the field of labour relations, we focus exclusively on representing management. Our services in this field include advice and representation in:

  • Collective agreement administration;
  • Collective bargaining;
  • Discipline and termination of employment;
  • Instituting proactive and positive employee relations practices and programmes;
  • Labour arbitration and dispute resolution;
  • Industrial conflicts (strikes, lock-outs and picketing);
  • Successor-employer proceedings;
  • Unfair labour practices;
  • Union organizing, certification and decertification campaigns; and
  • Strategic labour advice.

Members of the Group regularly appear as counsel for employers in the courts and before various employment and labour-related administrative tribunals both under federal and provincial legislation.

Professional Activities

Several members of the group have lectured at the university level, authored books, legal service manuals and articles, including Le congédiement déguisé au Québec - Fondements théoriques et aspects pratiques, The Employment Contract, Le contrat d'emploi, Executive Employment Law, Les dirigeants: leurs droits et leurs obligations, as well as a section dealing with labour law in the publication titled Doing Business in Canada.

Value-Added Client Resources

As part of our effort to remain at the forefront of client service, we have developed an employment and pension law blog, featuring practical and timely information and commentary on important legal and policy developments in this area of law, including termination of employment, executive compensation, human rights, occupational health and safety, pension plan, governance, pension fund investment issues, overtime, social networking pension plan mergers, conversions and other restructurings, insolvency-related pension issues, employment standards, drug testing legislation updates and privacy. The blog is fully searchable with extensive archived materials, indexed by topic, and allows users to subscribe for regular updates via email or RSS feed.

The blog is available at www.CanadianEmploymentPensionLaw.com.


Recent Group Activities

Firm sponsoring IWIRC conference
Stikeman Elliott will be a sponsor at the International Women's Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation Fall Conference, taking place October 11 - 13 in Tampa, FL. Elizabeth Pillon and Nancy Ramalho of the Bankruptcy, Insolvency and Restructuring Group will be attending.

Employment lawyer published in CCH newsletters
Randall Boessenkool's article "Trying to limit your employees from post-employment activities? Your restrictive covenant better be specific, says Ontario Court of Appeal" was recently published in CCH's Labour Notes and Canadian Employment Law Guide newsletters.

Employment lawyer published in Labour Notes
Kelly O'Ferrall's article, "Employer liable for long-term disability coverage during the common law notice period," in which she discusses the implications of the Brito v. Canac Kitchens ruling, is featured in CCH's Labour Notes newsletter.

New amendments on workplace violence and harassment - Paper now available
Members of our Toronto Employment, Labour & Pension Group have prepared a paper on Bill 168 recent amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety Act (Violence and Harassment in the Workplace) which imposes significant and new obligations on Ontario employers effective June 15, 2010.  Click here for a copy of the paper to assist you in ensuring your company is compliant with these amendments.

Pension Seminar in Toronto
Members of our Employment, Labour & Pension Group hosted a seminar "The Pension Puzzle: Putting the Pieces Together" on June 3. Click here for an audio-taping of the seminar.


practices  
Related Practices
Contacts
Key Contacts

Montréal:
Hélène Bussières

Toronto:
Lorna Cuthbert
Bruce Pollock

Calgary:
Gary Clarke 

Vancouver:
Gary Clarke
Related Publications
Other Articles