Remember who calls the legal shots at work

Sometimes employees too easily confuse who gets to call the legal shots in the workplace. Believing that their job is an entitlement, they try to take the law into their own hands. But what happens when an employee gets that law wrong?

Ultimatum tantamount to dismissal

Following a bad day at work and thinking that he would be fired, Philip Chan elected to resign instead. However, in another tale from the workplace trenches with an ending you would not expect, a court found that Chan’s resignation was actually a termination.

Clearing up misconceptions – Mistakes can be avoided

Canadian employers may “rule” their own workplaces but they definitely don’t rule the courts. Despite workplace laws favouring their legal position, many employers make mistakes that hand employees a better case. Here are some of my favourite workplace blunders.

Company’s failure to properly investigate cost it the case

Having just been advised of the less than impressive results of an “employee satisfaction survey” at the National Bank’s branch in Vaughan, Ontario, Adrian Chandran, the senior manager at the branch, was in shock. To Chandran’s dismay, many of his subordinates accused him of making condescending remarks, embarrassing others and behaving like a bully. Some claimed they contemplated seeking legal advice. Chandran asked for the specifics of those complaints so that he could defend himself, but his request was denied.

Workplace Law’s biggest misconceptions

This is as true at work as it is in life, except that in workplace law there is always an exception. Here is a sampling of some of the questions readers of this column frequently ask and the answers I often provide.