Criminal Charges & Convictions
Ontario court confirms that employee with "anger management issues" not disabled under Code
In Gulick v. Ottawa Police Service, 2012 ONSC 5536, the Ontario Superior court confirmed that an employee with "anger management issues" was not disabled for the purposes of the Ontario Human Rights Code and thus not entitled to accommodation.
Specifically, the court stated the following in this case, which involved the dismissal of a police officer:
[15] While the incident giving rise to the disciplinary hearing did involve
some consumption of alcohol and medications, the Hearing Officer found as a
fact that the incident was triggered by anger management issues with which the
applicant had been struggling for several years. The Hearing Officer found
that alcohol was, at most, an exacerbating factor. We are not aware of any
jurisprudence which has established that anger management issues will support a
finding of disability.
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Canadian Association of Counsel to Employers posts factum in SCC case concerning privacy, work computers
The Canadian Association of Counsel to Employers (CACE) is an association of management-side labour and employment lawyers across Canada that was created in 2004.
In a news release issued today, it announced it is intervening before the Supreme Court of Canada in the R v. Cole case. The release states as folllows:
In a case involving a teacher and nude sexually explicitly images of a grade 10 student, the Canadian Association of Counsel to Employers (CACE) has intervened before the Supreme Court on the case, R. v. Cole, on the issue of privacy and work computers. read more »
"Criminal Behaviour and other Off-Duty Conduct"
Vancouver law firm Roper Greyell has published an Information Update entitled "Criminal Behaviour and other Off-Duty Conduct" (July 20, 2011), which address the question: What can you do about your employees' off-duty conduct?
ONCA: teacher had reasonable expectation of privacy on work computer in face of no clear policy
In R. v Cole, 2011 ONCA 218, a criminal law case, the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that a high school teacher had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the contents of a work laptop computer on which he was entitled to store personal information.
In making this finding, the court pointed in part to the fact that the employer had no clear privacy policy relating to teachers' work laptops, and no policy statement reserving the right to monitor or search the teachers' laptops.
However, the appeal court further ruled in its March 22, 2011 decision that: read more »
"Accused but Not Yet Convicted: What to do When Your Employee is Accused of a Crime?"
"Accused but Not Yet Convicted: What to do When Your Employee is Accused of a Crime?" (March 29, 2011) is the title of a bulletin written by two lawyers - Anthony Houde and Emilie Paquin-Holmested at the Montreal office of Fasken Martineau.
BC Privacy Commissioner to consider use of PRIME police database for employment-related criminal record checks
BC's Information and Privacy Commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, issued a news release yesterday in which she confirmed that her office:
- has been examining the issue of employment-related criminal records checks for several months; and
- will take the recent concerns voiced by the BC Civil Liberties Association ("BCCLA") about the PRIME police database into consideration.
PRIME stands for "Police Records Information Management Environment".
The Commissioner's release goes on to state: read more »
