On March 21, 2013, James Cameron participated on a panel on persons with high-conflict personalities and how to deal with them in the workplace.

People who have a pattern of creating or increasing conflict with others can be characterized as people with ‘high-conflict personalities.’ With these individuals, the issue in dispute doesn’t cause the tension; rather, the individual’s personality causes the tension. People with high conflict personalities may have underlying personality disorders, or traits of a personality disorder. In this session experts will identify high conflict patterns of behaviour, provide information on common personality disorders, and discuss legal considerations and dispute resolution techniques relevant to dealing with conflict in the workplace.

For further information, please visit the Lancaster House website.

David Yazbeck will co-chair the Lancaster House Ottawa Labour Law Conference, on May 16-17 at the Ottawa Conference Centre.

Andrew Raven will speak at the Lancaster House  Ottawa Labour Law Conference, on May 15, 2003, on employers’ responsibilities to accommodate employees’ family responsibilities.

There is a growing understanding that employers, unions and employees must work together to assist workers in maintaining a functional balance between work life and family life. A failure to accommodate an employee’s family care obligations may be found to be discrimination on the part of the employer. It is important for workplaces to have clear policies and processes in place to assess family care issues as they arise and to implement accommodative measures where appropriate.

On June 7th, David Yazbeck and James Cameron will speak on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder at a conference organized by REACH Canada.  REACH has offered lawyer referrals and public education for individuals living with disabilities since 1981.  Ravenlaw is a long-term, proud supporter of REACH.

For more information, and to register for the conference, please visit the REACH website:  http://www.reach.ca/?action=site.show&lid=26&comaction=view&eid=NAXRU-6L6T4-QY6T6

On April 23, 2013 the Public Service Labour Relations Board (PSLRB) upheld the Public Service Alliance of Canada’s complaint against the Treasury Board and Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). The PSLRB found that the Treasury Board and CBSA violated the statutory freeze on terms and conditions of employment by terminating a long-standing practice of granting union officers full-time union leave with pay. This important decision clarifies the law on the statutory freeze period in the federal public sector and establishes the PSLRB’s approach to the issue of the time limits for making statutory freeze complaints. The case was argued by Andrew Raven with assistance from Dayna Steinfeld of Ravenlaw.

On May 2, 2013, James Cameron and Andrew Astritis each presented at the 2013 Accommodation Law Conference in Ottawa, sponsored by Labour Law Online.ca, the Centre for Labour-Management Development.  Their presentations addressed Workplace Policies and the Duty to Accommodate, Discipline, Discharge and the Disabled Employee, Accommodating Family Status, Disabilities requiring special Accommodation, as well as a host of other issues:
http://labourlawonline.ca/main.jsp?p=seminar_desc&seminarid=185&bndid=3&st=3

On August 30, 2013, the Federal Court of Canada quashed an Order made by the Minister of Heritage, James Moore, and cancelled a forced vote on the Canada Border Services Agency’s (“CBSA”) employees in the Frontière/Border (“FB”) group.

The Minister’s Order was made following a request by Treasury Board President Tony Clement for a forced vote on the employer’s final offer, dated May 6, 2013. Minister Moore ordered the vote without consulting or giving notice to the Public Service Alliance of Canada (“PSAC”), the certified bargaining agent representing the 7 000 plus employees affected.

PSAC successfully judicially reviewed the decision before the Federal Court of Canada. In her decision, Justice Mary Gleason emphasized the importance of the vote on PSAC’s interests. Justice Gleason found that “it would be difficult to find a decision that might more deeply affect a trade union’s interests than the decision to order a vote among bargaining unit members” and concluded that PSAC was entitled to adequate notice of the employer’s request for a forced vote and a meaningful opportunity to respond to it.

Justice Gleason noted each side’s duty to engage in good faith collective bargaining and set aside the Minister’s order, without remitting the matter back to the Minister for reconsideration: “the decision of the Minister to order a vote among the employees in the FB bargaining unit on the Employer’s final offer will be set aside. And, since the decision directing the vote is being quashed, the activities currently being undertaken by the PSLRB to conduct that vote must cease as there is no longer any decision to authorize them.”

PSAC was represented by Andrew Raven and Wassim Garzouzi of Raven, Cameron, Ballantyne & Yazbeck LLP/s.r.l.

Read the PSAC’s press release.

Ravenlaw is delighted to announce that the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that pensioners at Manitoba Telecom Services (MTS) are entitled to compensation for the $43 million of surplus pension contributions made to MTS prior to its privatization.  This ruling, worth well over $100 million with interest, ends a long legal battle for these workers and their unions.

Congratulations to Brian Meronek, Kris Saxberg and Tomas Masi of D’Arcy & Deacon. James Cameron and Andrew Astritis appeared as co-counsel in the appeal.

Full text of the decision can be found here.