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

Raven, Cameron, Ballantyne and Yazbeck, LLP/s.r.l. takes great pride in helping working people across Canada. Doing so means we need a national presence and greater communications channels. To this end, we have created a brand new website that provides a greater level of access to our services.

The new Ravenlaw.com includes:

• Information about Ravenlaw and our values.
• Profiles and contact details of our lawyers, staff and students.
• Fields of expertise for each lawyer.
• News and updates from Ravenlaw.
• Career oppurtinities.
• Articling opportunties for students.
• A comprehensive directory of contact details, including social media.

Our website, like our practice is completely bilingual, available in both English and French.

Our new website is fully accessible and browsable by users with assistive technology. The site is also responsive, which means it will be dynamically rendered to be viewable on your desktop, tablet or smartphone. Our goal was to create an intuitive and dynamic website that anyone can access at any time.

Design and development was done by Ottawa-based agency Soshal. Soshal works with purpose-driven organizations to build effective websites that focus on helping people.

We welcome your feedback on the new Ravenlaw.com, and how we can continue to improve our website. Please send your feedback to info@ravenlaw.com.

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.

James Cameron will be speaking at an Ontario Bar Association program entitled Harassment Investigations: Pitfalls, Best Practices and New Approaches on Thursday, March 25, 2010.

James will be speaking from the perspective of an employee representative in harassment investigations, and will address issues including:

• How do harassment policies fit with related legislation and regulations?
• What are the procedural fairness requirements for harassment investigations?
• How should privacy/confidentiality issues be dealt with in the investigation process?
• What are the most common errors in an investigation, and what are the best practices?
• What are the viable alternatives for fixing dysfunctional workplaces without conducting a major investigation, and when are they most effective?

Visit the OBA website for more information.

The Federal Court of Appeal recently released its decision in Amos v. Attorney General of Canada, affirming the jurisdiction of an Adjudicator appointed under the Public Service Labour Relations Act to enforce a settlement agreement entered into by the parties to an adjudicable grievance.

In allowing Andrew Amos’ appeal, the Federal Court of Appeal concluded that the Adjudicator’s decision was supported by the PSLRA’s increased emphasis on the voluntary resolution of disputes and Parliament’s intention that the Act provide an exclusive and comprehensive regime for resolving grievances. In doing so, the Court of Appeal agreed that case law under the previous PSSRA no longer applied, rejecting the Respondent’s argument that the grievor’s recourse was limited to presenting a new, non-adjudicable grievance to the employer.

Mr. Amos was represented by Andrew Raven and Andrew Astritis. The full text of the Federal Court of Appeal’s decision is available here.

We are very proud to announce that Michelle Gordon has been awarded this year’s Raven, Cameron, Ballantyne & Yazbeck LLP Prize in Human Rights at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law, Common Law Section.

Every year, our firm sponsors a prize for the student who achieves the highest standing in the “Human Rights Laws in Canada” course at the law school. Human rights law is a fundamental component of our legal system and a major component of our law practice. It is important to recognize achievements in this area, and to encourage students to pursue human rights law when they practice.

Congratulations Michelle, and best of luck in your legal career!

Our firm recently represented the Public Service Alliance of Canada (“PSAC”) in an appeal before the Supreme Court of Canada regarding the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal’s 2005 decision to uphold PSAC’s pay equity complaint against Canada Post.

In a rare ruling from the bench, the Supreme Court overturned the decision of the Federal Court of Appeal, reinstating the Tribunal’s decision against Canada Post. The complaint, presented in 1983, resulted in a long-fought legal battle by PSAC, first to have the case referred to Tribunal and then to see the matter through the adjudicative process, which included over 400 hearing days spanning ten years. The award for lost wages and the interest thereon is estimated to be worth approximately $250 million.

The Supreme Court’s decision has significant implications for both the individuals involved and the pay equity jurisprudence under the Canadian Human Rights Act. In endorsing wholesale the dissenting reasons set out by Justice Evans at the Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court re-affirmed the validity of the 1986 Equal Wages Guidelines, including the gender predominance thresholds set out therein. The Supreme Court also confirmed the Tribunal’s decision to accept the expert evidence tendered by PSAC, which demonstrated that Canada Post had failed to pay workers in the female-dominated CR Group equal pay for work of equal value performed by the male-dominated PO Group.

Congratulations to PSAC for this hard-fought and important victory!