Foreign companies have always complained about the requirements and criteria associated with tendering for domestic infrastructure projects. The conservative attitude and lack of commercial awareness of bureaucrats and discriminatory qualification requirements have all contributed to warding off reputable international companies. Comments made by both the American and the European Chambers of Commerce in recent years have by and large recommended that international tendering be encouraged ...
Intellectual Property is important. Although never at the forefront of our thinking (IP Lawyers aside) the role of patents, trade marks and copyright in shaping the business and leisure aspects of our lives is immense ...
The “Chiasson”(4) appeal is making headlines as it has the potential to force corporations to review and perhaps re-write their drug-testing policies and procedures.Chiasson dealt with pre-employment drug testing. The Complainant had applied for and was offered a job as a receiving inspector at an oil sands project in Fort McMurray, Alberta. The offer of employment was subject to the results of a pre-employment medical and drug screening test ...
Human Resources and Skills Development/Service Canada (“HRSDC”) recently implemented Regional Occupations Lists (the “Lists”). The Lists are meant to “assist employers who are experiencing difficulty filling job vacancies due to labour market shortages ...
Cory Grams died while at work at a Maple Leaf Metal Industries Ltd. (“Maple Leaf”) plant in Edmonton, Alberta. His parents, as beneficiaries and administrators of his estate, claimed damages against Maple Leaf for $92,000 for negligence in failing to provide insurance coverage under an employment contract. A claim against the insurer, Zurich, was settled prior to trial. Mr ...
Effective December 12, 2006, mandatory retirement will no longer be generally permissible in Ontario, (as a result of amendments to the Ontario Human Rights Code). Employers will, however, still be allowed to enforce mandatory retirement polices if they can show that being younger than 65 (or another designated age) is a bona fide occupational requirement ...
On 26 October 2006, the Antitrust Court issued a decision, from a defense of competition perspective, in connection with the legality of the behaviors between Voissnet S.A. ('Voissnet') and Compañía de Telecomunicaciones de Chile S.A. ('CTC-CHILE'). Voissnet, a company that provides telecommunication services consisting of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), accused CTC-CHILE of performing acts against free competition ...
The new LC is based on a different legal conception than the existing LC. Whereas the still valid LC is a mandatory legal regulation with no exceptions, the new code allows that the rights or obligations in labour-law relations are regulated differently than in the Labour Code, unless the code expressly prohibits or unless it results from the nature of the relevant provisions that it is impossible to deviate from such provisions ...
The right to privacy occupies a prominent place in Quebec law. Both the Charter of human rights and freedoms(1) and the Civil Code of Québec(2) recognize this right. Moreover, it is acknowledged that deliberate interception of a private communication may infringe this right. Does this mean that any form of electronic recording in a work environment is prohibited? Absolutely not ...
The new provisions pertaining to psychological harassment that were added to the Act respecting labour standards(1) (hereinafter referred to as the “ARLS”) on June 1, 2004, have given rise to many arbitration awards and interpretations over the last two years that have expounded on the concept of psychological harassment ...
In our Spring 2005 newsletter we reported on the Keays v. Honda Canada Inc.(1) decision in which the Ontario Superior Court of Justice awarded a dismissed employee $500,000 in punitive damages in addition to 24 months salary in lieu of notice (15 months’ reasonable notice plus nine months’ additional “Wallace” damages for “bad faith” dismissal) ...
An employment permit system has recently been implemented for Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau personnel rendering services in Mainland China.The Administrative Regulations on the Employment of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau Residents in Mainland China (“Employment Regulations”) were issued by the PRC Ministry of Labour and Social Security on 14 June 2005 and took effect on 1 October 2005 ...
He may be a knight, one of the most successful music artists and a noted viniculturalist, but Sir Cliff Richard is not resting on his laurels. Add legal reform campaigner to this list as the Peter Pan of Pop leads the quest to change UK copyright law.Copyright can be deceptively simple on the face of it, but scratch the surface and you reveal the complexity of co-existing legal rights. Take Sir Cliff's 1959 best selling single 'Living Doll' ...
Pursuant to the Act on Drugs, the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic has specified in annexes to this Decree details on forms to be used for prescriptions of drugs and medical aids. By this Decree, the Ministry also has set the sample forms of medical prescription, special medical prescription, medical reference, and extract from medical prescription, order and special order ...
In the workplace, youth is seen as a valuable asset. When the benefits of youth are emphasised in relation to personnel and staffing issues to the exclusion of other factors, employers may well find themselves discriminating on the basis of age. Employers may also be depriving themselves of the many benefits of an age-diverse workforce – higher retention rates; lower rates of absenteeism; greater flexibility; and a wider pool of available skills. This has a major economic impact ...
According to the independent charity, The Age and Employment Network, the cost of age discrimination in the UK now amounts to £5.5bn in lost government tax and paid unemployment benefits and a further £30bn in lost productivity annually. These are astounding figures. It seems that many employees are currently obliged or persuaded to leave the workplace before their normal retirement age and that early exit from work for people aged over 50 tends to be permanent ...
The federal Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA) has proposed new regulations for rural onshore low stress pipelines and rural onshore gathering lines. Although PHMSA has been anticipating further regulation of these types of lines for the past few years, the Agency acknowledges that the proposed rule is a direct response to legislative and media scrutiny of recent incidents that occurred in the Alaska Prudhoe Bay field ...
The House of Lords has clarified what makes a message sent by means of a public electronic communications network "grossly offensive" and therefore capable of amounting to a crime under the Communications Act 2003 ("Act") ...
As the poultry farming crisis looms and countries are on the lookout for outbreaks of infection, scientists are closely following the evolution of the virus, which is moving to new sources of infection.Before a crisis is on our doorstep, businesses should prepare themselves for the consequences of a high rate of absenteeism. Without exaggerating the risks, they should adopt preventive strategies and become aware of the legal ins and outs of their actions ...
In order for an employee to be entitled to the statutory benefits endowed under the Employment Ordinance (the "EO"), in most of the situations, he has to be under a continuous employment with their employer for a certain minimum period. As a result, what constitutes a continuous employment and what breaks its continuity are important to both employers and employees. In a recent Court of Appeal case, Lui Lim Ka & others v ...
The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress made public China's draft law on "The PRC Labour Contract Law" on 20 March 2006, with a view to collecting opinions thereon from relevant departments and the public, for further amendments to be made to this draft law. The PRC Labour Contract Law is intended to be promulgated pursuant to the PRC Labour Law, and sets out to clarify certain ambiguities to give employees better protection ...
These questions arise periodically and always pose problems of conscience for the lawyers and employers concerned. A recent decision of the Court of Appeal in Caisse Populaire Desjardins de La Malbaie v. Tremblay, J.E. 2006-1218, 2006 QCCA 697, sets out the latest state of the law on the subject. The facts Tremblay sued the Caisse Populaire for unlawful dismissal and his lawyer communicated with employees of his former employer for the purpose of meeting with them ...
