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A pilot with Sunwing Airlines (the “pilot”) was fired in 2023 for sexually harassing a flight attendant on a layover at a resort hotel. The flight attendant (“AB”) brought a complaint and an external investigator found that the pilot engaged in the following behaviour…
I attended the “HR Leaders Summit Canada” conference last week, and participated in a panel where we discussed how human resources can lead organizations for “clarity, capacity, and care.” My co-panelists (Mark Edgar, Rawan El-Komos, and Momina Javaid, moderated by Donna Gray) had much insight and excellent ideas for HR professionals.
I saw a post online some time ago that said (paraphrased): “Communication can be so strange. You can say: ‘I like waffles,’ and someone will respond, ‘Why do you hate pancakes?’” I have been reminded of this post several times as I encounter people who seem to be speaking at cross-purposes in various discussions about the current diversity, equity, & inclusion backlash.
While we are probably best known for conducting and supporting investigations and providing investigation training, our firm’s passion is elevating workplace culture overall. One of the ways we do that is by facilitating Respectful Workplace Training (RWT) – while often narrowly viewed as harassment and discrimination training, RWT more broadly refers to any “training that will provide [workers] with information intended to help foster a respectful workplace.”
When it comes to anonymity in workplace investigations, there are various facets. One of our partners, Liliane Gingras, recently wrote a blog about the risks of promising complainants a guarantee of anonymity throughout the investigative process. However, I would like to talk about situations where complaints are made by individuals who are completely unknown to the employer.
“If you can’t write out your mandate in a short and simple paragraph, don’t start.”
When delivering our Workplace Investigation Fundamentals sessions, this is how I start the discussion on mandate. Simply put, an investigator’s mandate is the thing (or things) that they are being asked to do, the decision (or decisions) that they are being asked to make.
Most Canadian jurisdictions require employers to have policies that address issues like workplace harassment, discrimination, and violence. In our investigation practice, we read many of these “respect at work” policies, and the overwhelming majority of them are clearly written to specifically comply with legislative requirements.
Where does the time go? Federally-regulated organizations surely recall the passing of Bill C-65 which amended the harassment and violence provisions of the Canada Labour Code (“CLC”). They also no doubt recall the accompanying Work Place Harassment and Violence Prevention Regulations (“Regulations”) that came into effect in January of 2021, and set out more specific requirements for those employers that fall within federal jurisdiction.
