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Labour & Employment

Strategic labour and employment law solutions for employers

Miller Thomson’s Labour Relations and Employment Group offers practical and strategic support, providing private and public sector employers with trusted guidance in navigating federal and provincial laws. Our aim is to help senior management make informed decisions aligned with best practices and current legal standards. Our experienced lawyers are located across Canada, providing national reach and local expertise. 

Comprehensive legal support 

Our expertise covers the full range of human resources law, including:

General employment law

  • Recruitment and hiring: Developing effective and compliant practices 
  • Compliance: Ensuring adherence to employment and labour standards legislation, including employment standards, occupational health and safety, human rights, privacy, pay equity and transparency, accessibility, immigration and workers’ compensation 
  • Discipline and termination: Providing guidance on discipline and termination issues and drafting of severance packages 
  • Human rights: Providing advice and training and defending of human rights complaints 
  • Workplace harassment and safety: Addressing occupational health and safety concerns 
  • Performance management: Developing performance improvement plans 
  • Disability Management: Assisting with requests for medical information, developing return-to-work plans and managing absenteeism 
  • Policy development: Creating and implementing workplace policies and employee handbooks 
  • Corporate transactions: Advising on employment implications of corporate restructuring, mergers, acquisitions and partnerships 
  • Employment contracts: Drafting employment contracts, executive employment agreements, independent contractor agreements and secondment agreements 
  • Compensation structures: Structuring incentive compensation plans 
  • Litigation: Defending wrongful dismissal claims; enforcing restrictive covenants, confidentiality obligations and fiduciary duties 

Labour relations

  • Union-free strategies: Providing guidance to maintain union-free workplaces 
  • Union organizing: Responding to union organizing activities 
  • Collective bargaining: Assisting with negotiations and collective agreement interpretation 
  • Labour relations advice: Advising employers on day to day labour relations matters and contract interpretation 
  • Grievance and arbitration: Representing employers in grievance and interest arbitrations 
  • Labour relations board applications: Representing employers in applications before the Board, unfair labour practices, certification and termination applications, and more 

Why choose us?

  • Strategic planning: Assisting you in anticipating and preparing for evolving workplace challenges 
  • Proactive solutions: Proactively addressing potential problems before they escalate 
  • Comprehensive guidance: From day-to-day legal assistance to strategic planning, offering comprehensive support tailored to your needs 

Awards and accolades

  • Recognized by Chambers and Partners: Employment & Labour (Chambers Canada)
  • Recognized by Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory: Labour Relations
  • Recognized by Best Law Firms™ – Canada: Labour and Employment Law; Employee Benefits Law; Immigration Law
  • Recognized by The Legal 500 – Canada: Labour & Employment

Contact us

Stay ahead of labour and employment law issues with Miller Thomson’s trusted legal guidance. Contact us today to ensure compliance and protect your business interests.

Key contact

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Expertise Specializations

Workplace Health & Safety

Workplace health and safety solutions

Risk mitigation: A proven track record of successfully assisting clients with workplace health and safety, workers’ compensation, and workplace safety insurance; we represent employers in litigation related to these issues, providing proactive support and guidance to minimize the risk of non-compliance and costly legal proceedings

Our expertise covers:

  • Health andsafety: Due diligence, compliance system design, audits, training, policy development, investigations, defence of criminal prosecutions, and advocacy
  • Workplace harassment, violence, and bullying: Policy development, training, workplace investigations, and advocacy
  • Workers’ compensation/workplace safety and insurance: Claims management, return-to-work policies, re-employment obligations, modified duty assessments, employer classification, and advocacy before boards and tribunals

National Contact

Pensions, Benefits & Executive Compensation

Pension, benefits, and executive compensation solutions

  • Specialized pension law advice: Assisting pension plan sponsors, administrators, and service providers with a full range of pension and benefit matters, including related investment matters and the resolution of disputes; providing strategic counsel to ensure clients can navigate the complex regulatory and legal framework in which they operate and realize their strategic and business objectives  
  • Plan governance, funding, and administration: Providing advice on governance best practices, including provision of governance training, funding requirements, and service provider agreements, and the resolution of administrative issues, including interpretation of pension plan texts and resolution of member claims 
  • Mergers & acquisitions and investments: Acting for domestic and international corporations and pension fund investors on the pension and benefits aspects of commercial transactions and investment 
  • Insolvency and restructuring: Assisting plan sponsors, administrators, trustees, and monitors on the full range of pension and benefits issues in an insolvency, including member communications, surplus and investment issues and plan wind ups 
  • Cybersecurity: Offering advice on identifying and allocating cyber risk for plan administrators and service providers 
  • Plan transfers: Facilitating the transfer of smaller pension plans to larger ones, including enabling legislation, member communications, transfer agreement between plans, negotiations with bargaining units and amendments to collective agreements 
  • Executive compensation: Preparing, interpreting and negotiating supplementary retirement plans, incentive compensation arrangements, equity and non-equity based incentive plans, and executive employment contracts, including change of control provisions and retention agreements  

National Contact

Immigration

Business immigration services

  • Broad expertise: Offering advice on Canadian and U.S. Business Immigration law; working with management, HR professionals, and in-house legal advisors to develop strategies and solutions for the cross-border expansion of their businesses, transfer of personnel, and employment and retention of international talent 
  • A team approach: Our team, consisting of lawyers, paralegals, and assistants across the country, ensures comprehensive support for various immigration programs 
  • Partnership you can trust: Working closely with our firm’s Business, Tax, and other specialty groups to deliver seamless yet comprehensive legal advice 

National Contacts

Human Rights

Human rights compliance and advocacy

  • Mitigate risk: Ensuring compliance with human rights legislation and mitigation of litigation risk 
  • Tailored solutions: Providing tailored seminars, workshops, and training sessions; Developing policies and strategies to prevent workplace discrimination and harassment. Our expertise covers policy development, training, investigations, accommodation plans, due diligence, and advocacy before tribunals and courts 
  • Defending complaints: Representing employers before human rights tribunals 

National Contact

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