This year’s program addressed key issues impacting workplaces across the country, including employment law developments, legislative trends, workforce transformation, workplace investigations, OHS, and compensation package updates.
Panel 1 | Labour Relations at a Crossroads: A Potpourri of Labour Trends Impacting Unionized Workplaces, Economic Growth and the Right to Strike
Canada’s labour relations landscape is evolving rapidly, creating new challenges and opportunities for employers operating in unionized environments.
This session offered a practical potpourri of the significant labour relations developments shaping today’s workplace. Our panel explored recent legislative reforms and emerging case law.
Drawing on developments across federal and provincial jurisdictions, we highlighted the trends employers need to watch and provide practical guidance on how these changes may affect workplace strategy, operations, and labour relations in the years ahead.
Panel 2 | Is Your Employment Contract Still Enforceable? Key Risks and Emerging Trends for Employers
The employment contract remains one of the most important tools for managing workplace risk, yet employers are facing increasing uncertainty regarding the enforceability and interpretation of key contractual provisions.
This session explored the latest developments affecting termination clauses, restrictive covenants, remote work arrangements, equity compensation, and post-employment entitlements. Our panel examined emerging legal and regulatory trends, including heightened scrutiny of non-compete provisions, and provided practical guidance on drafting and updating employment agreements to better protect employers in a rapidly evolving workplace.
Panel 3 | Workplace Culture Under Scrutiny: Off-Duty Conduct, Accommodation and Emerging Employer Obligations
Employers are facing increasing challenges in balancing workplace culture, employee rights, and evolving accommodation obligations. Recent decisions across Canada highlight the growing legal risks associated with off-duty conduct, public expression, and the management of employees with complex accommodation needs.
This session examined two significant cases attracting attention from employers nationwide:
- Chilliwack Teachers’ Association v. Neufeld, and its implications for workplace leaders, freedom of expression, reputational risk, and poisoned work environment claims.
- Volpi v. Lifemark Health Corp., focusing on invisible disabilities, mental health, neurodiversity, the expanding duty to inquire, attendance management, and challenging return-to-work situations.
Panel 4 | Provincial Legislative Trends: What Employers Need to Prepare for Next
Employers across Canada continue to face a rapidly evolving legislative landscape, with significant employment and labour law reforms being introduced at the provincial level. Keeping pace with these changes is critical to maintaining compliance and minimizing workplace risk.
This session provided a cross-country update on key legislative and regulatory developments affecting employers, including Ontario’s POWER Act (Bill 105), recent Québec labour law developments, and employment law reforms in British Columbia. Our panel highlighted upcoming implementation requirements, emerging compliance obligations, and the practical steps employers should be taking now to prepare for what lies ahead.
Panel 5 | Employees Behaving Badly: Employee Misconduct, Employer Response, and the Lessons from Recent Cases
This session reviewed of some of the most interesting recent employment law decisions from across Canada involving employee misconduct. Through real-world examples, we examined where employers succeeded, where they fell short, and why. We also highlighted the practical lessons organizations can apply when drafting agreements, conducting investigations, responding to workplace issues, and managing risk.
Panel 6 | What to do When an OHS Inspector is at your Door
Regardless of whether you are an employer in the Construction or Industrial sectors, the possibility of being visited by the health and safety regulatory body governing your workplace is always there whether it be as the result of a proactive inspection, internal complaint, work refusal or injury/fatality. How your organization reacts to such a visit can have a profound effect on the type of enforcement actions taken post-visit.
In this session, we outlined some best practices for handling these inspections, reviewed the powers that Occupational Health and Safety enforcement personnel have and discussed the various types of enforcement instruments which can be applied against employers.
Panel 7 | I Always Feel Like Somebody’s Watching Me: Digital Monitoring in the Unionized Workplace
From dashcams and GPS tracking to electronic monitoring software and biometric time clocks, workplace surveillance technology is evolving rapidly. But how far can employers go in the unionized workplace? This presentation explored the latest on digital monitoring, employee privacy, management rights, and discipline. We discussed what employers can monitor, how monitoring programs should be implemented, and the common pitfalls that lead to successful union grievances.
Panel 8 |Total Rewards in Transition: Pensions, Benefits and Employee Expectations
In today’s competitive labour market, compensation alone is no longer enough to attract and retain top talent. Employers are facing growing pressure to deliver total rewards programs that balance employee expectations with rising costs, evolving workforce demographics, and an increasingly complex legal and regulatory environment.
This session explored the latest trends in pensions, benefits, and employee rewards, including mental health and disability benefits, changing workforce expectations, and strategies for attracting and retaining talent. Our panel also examined emerging legal and regulatory developments affecting total rewards programs, including recent legal decisions in the pension and benefits landscape and emerging areas of risk for employers.
