Morgan Rowe recently delivered a guest lecture in the University of Ottawa’s Labour Law I course. The lecture addressed the rules governing the relationship between unions and their members, union security provisions, and the evolving role of unions in society.

On February 28, 2017, Morgan Rowe presented a webinar for the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists on disability rights and advocacy. The presentation focused on the duty to accommodate disability, the legal and non-legal ways that people with disabilities can advocate for accommodation, and the role of medical professionals in accommodation processes.

On November 5, 2016, Jacob Saltiel participated as a judge in the University of Ottawa Law’s moot court competition for first-year students. Jacob judged two groups of students who presented arguments based on the Ontario Court of Appeal’s decision in Spence v BMO Trust Company. Jacob provided commentary and guidance to the impressive participants on their oral advocacy and presentation.

David Yazbeck has recently been appointed as a member of the Advisory Committee for the Queen’s Centre for Law in the Contemporary Workplace. This committee is composed of leaders in the field of workplace law. It is a tremendous resource for the Centre, providing advice on emerging issues, on research and conference activity and linking the Centre and its work to diverse professional communities with an interest in workplace law. Launched in 2010, the mission of the Centre is to advance law and policy in the contemporary workplace. Its vision is to be a leading force for innovation and law, policy and dialogue in the contemporary workplace.

Amanda Montague-Reinholdt has been elected to the Board of Directors for the Magnetic North Theatre Festival. Amanda has also been elected to serve as Secretary on the Board’s Executive Committee.

Magnetic North is Canada’s only national theatre festival, showcasing the very best of contemporary Canadian theatre. It has its home base in Ottawa, which hosts the festival every second year. The festival also has a unique travelling mandate, hosting the festival in a different community across Canada in alternate years, including the incredibly successful 2016 festival in Whitehorse. The next festival will take place in Ottawa in June 2017, coinciding with the celebrations of Canada’s 150^th anniversary.

On August 18, 2016, David Yazbeck moderated an audio conference for Lancaster House dealing with issues related to autism in the workplace, including how to counter stereotypes regarding autism spectrum disorders and how to accommodate individuals with autism spectrum disorders in their employment.

More information about the audio conference is available here.

On November 5, 2016, RavenLaw proudly supported the Workers’ Bowl, sending a team to the annual fundraiser for the Workers’ Action Centre, a Toronto-based organization that advocates for fair working conditions for vulnerable workers. The Workers’ Action Centre has a Workers’ Rights Info Line that workers can call for support, offers workshops on workers’ rights and is part of the campaign to raise the minimum wage to $15.

The bowling tournament is hosted by the Ontario Employment Education & Research Centre (OEERC), a non-profit that works with community partners such as the Workers’ Action Centre to educate workers on their rights and provide supports to workers whose rights have been violated.

The “Ravenclaw” team — Wassim Garzouzi, Michael Fisher, Morgan Rowe and Saranjit Cheema — joined bowlers from unions and union-side labour firms, among other supporters, to help raise funds for these important initiatives.

On September 28, 2016, James Cameron will present at an Optimum Talent Lunch and Learn session titled “Has Terminating an Employee Without Cause Become More Difficult?”. The program will address the recent Supreme Court decision in Wilson v Atomic Energy as well as the proposed amendments to Ontario’s Employment Standard Act regarding the need for “cause” and the possibility of reinstatement for wrongfully terminated employees. 

More information about the program can be found here.

In a decision delivered from the bench on November 8, 2016, the Federal Court of Appeal affirmed a decision of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal that Transport Canada discriminated against Chris Hughes in a job competition because he was a person with a mental health disability. After attending an oral interview, the hiring panel asked for oral references. Mr. Hughes told the chair of the hiring panel that it was difficult for him to get references from past employers in the federal public service, notwithstanding positive performance appraisals from those employers, because he was a whistleblower who had been involved in litigation with the employers for discrimination on the basis of his disability. Mr. Hughes asked the hiring panel to consider his performance appraisals in lieu of references, and while the panel initially accepted this material from him, it was not satisfied that is was an acceptable substitute for oral references. The Tribunal found, however, that the positive performance appraisals in fact confirmed Mr. Hughes was qualified for the position, and the hiring panel’s knowledge of his disability was a factor in its decision to reject his candidacy.

Transport Canada applied for judicial review of the Tribunal’s decision and, last year, the Federal Court disagreed with the Tribunal’s finding and set the decision aside. In reversing that decision, the Federal Court of Appeal found that the Federal Court re-weighed the evidence before the Tribunal and effectively re-decided the case, even though there was more than ample evidence to support the Tribunal’s key findings. This included evidence that the chair of the hiring panel knew of Mr. Hughes’ disability before deciding he was unqualified for the job, that a document favourable to Mr. Hughes had been altered by the employer, and that the chair of the hiring panel disregarded the accepted human resources practice of considering written material in lieu of reference in favour of verbal references. On that basis, the Federal Court of Appeal concluded the Tribunal’s decision was reasonable.

Mr. Hughes was represented by David Yazbeck and Michael Fisher of RavenLaw.

David Yazbeck recently spoke with the Canadian Bar Association’s National magazine regarding reform of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.

In his interview, David recommended an end to the federal system’s current two-step screening process for dealing with human rights complaints and the creation of a direct access model, like the one used in Ontario. He also commented on the importance of appointing members to the Tribunal who have expertise in and sensitivity to human rights matters.