Workshop Archive: 2019

HALF-DAY INTENSIVE WORKSHOP

In Ontario, as in many other jurisdictions across Canada, an employer is required by law to conduct an investigation in response to an allegation of workplace harassment.  A well planned and executed investigation will help management make sound and defensible decisions and reduce the potential for liability arising out of the investigation.  This practical, half-day workshop provides participants with the knowledge and tools to conduct an effective workplace harassment investigation.  Using interactive learning and real life-scenarios, topics include:

• What type of complaint or misconduct must be investigated?
• How to conduct an interview.
• Dealing with tricky investigation situations.
• How to reach defensible findings of fact.
• What is (and is not) harassment?
• Writing a complete, well-organized and effective harassment report.

HALF-DAY INTENSIVE WORKSHOP

Increasingly, employers are faced with human rights issues that extend well beyond disability accommodation. Family status, age, religious accommodation and gender related matters, are but a few of the most common and challenging types of human rights issues employers must address in the workplace.  What is an employer to do??

This practical, half-day workshop provides participants with the knowledge and tools to confidently assess and respond to these challenging human rights issues.  Using interactive learning and real life-scenarios, topics include:

• Family Status Accommodation: When does an employer have an obligation to accommodate a child-care (or elder-care) request?
• Age Discrimination: Can a workplace benefit plan limit eligibility based on age? How can an employer manage retirement with an aging workforce?  Does “age” require accommodation?
• Religious Observance: Are all religions and creeds created equally? How to manage a request for religious observance accommodation in the workplace.
• Gender Identity and Expression: Understand an employer’s rights and obligations when an individual is in the transition process

HALF-DAY INTENSIVE WORKSHOP

Effective and proactive management of return to work protocols can significantly improve cost outcomes related to most WSIB claims.  Applying interactive learning and real-life scenarios, topics for this half-day intensive workshop include:

• WSIB Return to Work Obligations: What are they?
• WSIB Players: Who are they and what is their role in the process?
• Common WSIB Return to Work Issues (and how to avoid them): Key challenges and proactive ways to address them.
• Human Rights and Return to Work: How does the duty to accommodate intersect with
  WSIB return to work obligations?
• Claim Costs: How ineffective management can impact claim costs and penalties.

HALF-DAY INTENSIVE WORKSHOP

Increasingly, requests for accommodation in the workplace focus on mental, not physical, disability.
Yet, understanding when a mental health issue may be a disability and how far the duty to accommodate a mental disability extends can be challenging for an employer.

This practical, half-day workshop provides participants with the knowledge and tools to confidently assess and respond to a request for mental health accommodation in the workplace.

Using interactive learning and real life-scenarios, topics include:

• Mental Disability vs. Workplace Woe: When does an ailment such as stress or anxiety require accommodation (and when does it not).
• Medical Documentation: How to obtain useful medical documentation related to mental disability.
• The Accommodation Process: How accommodation of a mental disability differs from accommodation of a physical disability, and ways to accommodate mental disability.

Leaves of Absence and Termination of Employment: When is an employer justified in placing an employee on a leave of absence, or terminating the employment relationship, for reasons related to a mental disability

Absenteeism and Attendance Management

HALF-DAY INTENSIVE WORKSHOP

Workplace absenteeism creates some of the most challenging issues faced by employers.  For example: when is absenteeism culpable; human rights considerations; how to obtain meaningful medical information; how to design and implement a defensible attendance management program; and at what point do we have “cause” to terminate?

Using interactive learning and real-life scenarios, this half-day workshop examines the following key topics:

1. Managing Workplace Absenteeism

• Human rights and privacy considerations.
• How to obtain meaningful medical information.

2. Attendance Management Programs

• Understand the difference between culpable and non-culpable absence.
• How to establish effective and defensible absenteeism thresholds.
• Tips and traps when implementing an attendance management program.

3. Discipline and Discharge for Attendance-Related Reasons

• When and how to use discipline to manage absenteeism.
• When will absenteeism constitute “cause” for termination.
• When to terminate for frustration of contract and innocent absenteeism.

HALF-DAY INTENSIVE WORKSHOP

What is the impact of a collective agreement on management’s ability to
organize the workplace?

How can workplace leaders effectively manage and discipline employees
in a unionized environment?

Applying interactive learning and real life-scenarios, this half-day workshop examines these topics:

1. The Collective Agreement

• What falls within management rights?
• Key provisions and their impact on management’s ability to organize work (job postings, layoff, seniority, probation, ).
• Understanding the grievance and arbitration process.

2. Effective Management of Unionized Employees

• Dealing with union stewards and representatives.
• Implementing effective performance management.
• Motivating and communicating with unionized employees.

3. Discipline and Discharge

• What do arbitrators consider in upholding discipline?
• The impact of workplace policies and procedures on discipline and discharge.
• Best (and worst) practices for discipline and discharge in a unionized environment.

HALF-DAY INTENSIVE WORKSHOP

Effective management of WSIB claims and appeals can make a significant difference to the bottom-line. This half-day workshop will help you acquire the tools you need to confidently address key issues in WSIB claims management.

Applying interactive learning and real-life scenarios, topics include:

• “Who’s Who” at the WSIB: Roles and responsibilities of key staff and decision-makers.
• Decision-Making at the WSIB: Understand how decisions are made.
• The Appeal Process: When (and how) to effectively appeal a WSIB decision.
• Get the Most Out of a Claim File and Case Record: How to obtain, review and understand information in a worker claim file and case record.
• Employer Account Issues: Appreciate the content of an employer account and how (and when) to request a transfer of costs or make a claim to the secondary injury enhancement fund.

FULL-DAY INTENSIVE WORKSHOP

In Ontario, as in many other jurisdictions across Canada, an employer is required by law to conduct an investigation in response to an allegation of workplace harassment (for example, in Ontario there is Bill 132 (Sexual Violence and Harassment Action Plan Act (Supporting Survivors and Challenging Sexual Violence and Harassment), 2016).

However, how to conduct an effective investigation is rarely straight forward. For more complex or sensitive matters, it is often prudent to retain counsel to investigate and report to management. In other cases, an employer may be well suited to conduct the investigation ‘in house’.

A well planned and executed investigation will help management make sound and defensible decisions, enhance employee morale and bolster the credibility of its finding if brought before an adjudicator for review. By contrast, a poorly planned and executed investigation can result in less than optimal decision-making, a finding by an adjudicator the investigation was flawed or unlawful, and attract damages against the employer for acting in bad faith.

This workshop will provide participants with training on how to conduct an effective workplace harassment investigation using real-life scenarios and interactive learning sessions.

Topics include:

• What type of complaint or misconduct must be investigated?
• How to conduct an interview.
• Dealing with tricky investigation situations.
• How to reach defensible findings of fact.
• What is (and is not) harassment?
• Writing a complete, well-organized and effective harassment report.
• Post-report issues.

The number of Canadians who will use cannabis for medical or recreational purposes is expected to grow significantly as a result of its recent decriminalization, creating new and challenging issues for employers.

Together with a medical expert on substance use disorders and testing, and applying interactive learning and real life-scenarios, this half-day workshop examines employer obligations and best practices regarding the following key topics:

1. Impairment

• The impact of cannabis on cognitive ability.
• How to recognize signs of impairment.
• Measuring impairment, including new developments in testing.

2. Balancing Safety, Privacy and Human Rights

• Employer rights and obligations.
• The significance of medical vs. recreational use of cannabis.
• Accommodating medical cannabis in the workplace.
• When the duty to accommodate is engaged by a substance use disorder.

3. Testing

• Pre-employment; pre-access; random; post-incident; and return to work.
• When testing is (and is not) permissible.

4. Discipline and Policies

• Holding employees accountable for drug and alcohol use and impairment in the workplace.
• Practical tips for developing and implementing a drug and alcohol policy.

We look forward to seeing you!

* Law Society of Ontario CPD Credits: This workshop may be applied toward general CPD credits.

* HRPAO CHRP designated members should inquire at www.hrpa.ca for certification eligibility guidelines regarding this workshop.