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Employment Termination in the
Changing Workplace
Conference held in Toronto on January 29, 30 & 31, 2001
Chairs: Donna Kirisits, CCL Custom Manufacturing; Barry A. Kuretzky,
Kuretzky Vassos; M. Norman Grosman, Grosman, Grosman & Gale; and Paul Le Vay,
Stockwood Spies
Book: over 490 pages of original material
CD-ROM: approximately 12 hours of video presentations, plus book content
To purchase, please
contact Federated Press.
Specific contexts
CASE STUDY Designing and implementing a sound termination
process
Donna Kirisits, Director, Human Resources and Health & Safety,
CCL Custom Manufacturing
- Creating and implementing sound policies and consistent procedures
- Just cause versus no cause terminations
- Proper documentation and recording of events
- Conducting the termination meeting
- Legal considerations: seeking and following legal advice
- Training management staff on moral and legal responsibilities
Video: 51 minutes Speaker's paper: 6178 words
Managing senior level terminations
David W. Guptill, Vice-President, Human Resources &
Communications, Lafarge Canada Inc.
- Identifying the main issues to consider
- Establishing who is a senior level employee
- Preparation: the employment contract, benefits and outplacement
services
- Putting together a fair package
- Security, confidentiality and non-compete agreements
- Conducting a respectful termination meeting
Video: 55 minutes Speaker's paper: 3185 words
PANEL Multiple terminations in the context of business change
Jenny Wethers, Director, Human Resources, Fidelity Investments
Canada Limited (Panel Chair); Jack L. Hayes, Director, Human Resources,
Chubb Security North America; and Kristen Oomen, Human Resources Generalist,
Axis Logistics, Inc.
- Termination during growth as positive change
- Focus on business: putting the business strategy into action
- Termination during acquisitions and consolidations
- Communicating effectively with employees, the media and the community
- A stakeholder analysis from the human resources perspective
- Assessing the issues and creating an action plan
Video: 28 minutes Speakers' papers: 1581 words Overheads
CASE STUDY Terminations in a union setting: the Ontario Power
Generation example
Glenn Zavitz, Senior Labour Relations Consultant, Ontario Power
Generation Incorporated
- Basic steps in the progressive disciplinary approach
- Key components of an effective disciplinary letter
- Specific disciplinary procedures at Ontario Power Generation
- Arbitration issues: obligations, costs and alternatives
- The employer's checklist for proper disciplinary action
- Special cases: dealing with fraud and substance abuse
Video: 48 minutes Overheads
Just cause for
dismissal
PANEL When does harassment constitute just cause for
termination?
Barry A. Kuretzky, Kuretzky Vassos (Panel Chair); and
Christopher Chenoweth, Kuretzky Vassos
- Defining harassment and discrimination
- The legal implications of e-mails and improper documentation
- Sexual harassment: establishing no fault and zero tolerance
- Creating and communicating a culture of dignity
- How the courts raised the level of the appropriate standard of
behaviour
- Social and psychological issues to consider in the workplace
Video: 40 minutes Speakers' paper: 1457 words
PANEL Termination for theft or other unethical conduct
John R. Sproat, Miller Thomson LLP (Panel Chair); Ches Somers,
Senior Investigator, Kroll Associates; and Tony Tarantelli, Senior Manager,
Employment Issues, Bank of Montreal
- The law: theft and unethical behaviour constitute just cause for
dismissal
- The Wallace factor: exposure to increased notice periods for
bad faith discharge
- The banking industry's policies and practices regarding theft and
fraud
- Dealing with the aftermath of a dismissal and criminal investigation
- Red flags for corporations in determining improper behaviour
- Using outside experts for complete and objective forensic reports
Video: 44 minutes Speaker's paper: 9304 words Overheads
Terminations in the electronic workplace
Lorenzo Lisi, McCarthy Tιtrault
- Use and misuse of e-mail and the Internet
- Electronic data and liability in the workplace
- Electronic monitoring of employees
- Implementing and communicating policies
- Evaluating the termination decision
- Disciplinary actions against inappropriate use of e-mail and the
Internet
Video: 25 minutes Speaker's paper: 3989 words
Terminating for absenteeism
Bonnie C. Oldham, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP; and Elisabeth
A. Campin, Counsel, General Motors of Canada Limited
- Problems, causes and effects of absenteeism
- Dealing with culpable versus non-culpable absences
- Developing, implementing and reinforcing a policy
- Notification obligations: the doctor's note
- Working with human rights obligations
- Accommodation and discrimination issues
Video: 46 minutes Overheads
Dismissal for incompetence
John W. Woon, Filion Wakely Thorup Angeletti LLP
- Identifying the dimensions of the issue
- Defining the meaning of competency
- When does incompetency constitute just cause for dismissal?
- Setting standards for job performance and evaluations
- Effective communication in employee warnings
- Accommodation and alternatives to dismissal
Video: 29 minutes Speaker's paper: 6146 words
Avoiding liability
PANEL Preventing problematic terminations by drafting effective
employment contracts
M. Norman Grosman, Grosman, Grosman & Gale (Panel Chair);
Anne-Marie Dunn, Vice-President, Human Resources, Charles Schwab Canada;
Robert Hines, Heidrick & Struggles Inc.; and Jim Wright, Vice-President,
Public Affairs, NCE Resources Group
- Four perspectives on the employment contract
- Developing and using written contracts to limit liability
- Crafting contracts for senior, middle and junior level employees
- Advantages and disadvantages of the written contract
- Contract enforceability and lifespan
- The divorce: post-termination issues
Video: 46 minutes Speakers' notes: 1004 words
PANEL Structuring the termination package and concluding a
settlement
Soma Ray, Donahue Ernst & Young LLP (Panel Chair); Debbie
Fischer, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young; and Debbie Caldwell, Ernst & Young LLP
- Recent legal developments and trends
- Issues for negotiation and employee/employer rights
- Reasons for termination: wrongful dismissal and human rights
complaints
- Managing the separation process
- Ensuring a consistent approach and common best practices
- Considering the human aspect of the termination process
Video: 51 minutes Overheads
What constitutes constructive dismissal?
Brian D. Mulroney, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
- The law of constructive dismissal
- Legal and historical developments in the doctrine of constructive
dismissal
- The current test: Farber v. Royal Trust Company
- Constructive dismissal and the Supreme Court of Canada
- Establishing what constitutes a significant change in the terms of
employment
- Avoiding liability for constructive dismissal
Video: 46 minutes Speaker's paper: 11,281 words
PANEL Being prepared to handle surprises that may arise during
the termination process
Catherine E. Mossop, Mossop Cornelissen & Associates (Panel
Chair); Kenneth J. Davis, National Manager, Human Resources, Praxair Canada,
Inc.; and W. Earl Hough, Director, Human Resources and Industrial Relations,
Loblaw Companies Limited
- Implementing advanced planning into the termination process
- Handling and investigating surprise revelations
- Reviewing company policy
- Special retirement issues in acquired companies
- Answering unanticipated demands
- Preparing "what if" scenarios
Video: 39 minutes Speakers' paper: 1520 words
The aftermath
PANEL Post-termination strategies: retaining the workforce
through renewal
Terry W. Szwec, Vice-President, Career Systems International
(Panel Chair); Gerry R.J. Meyer, Director, Human Resources, MOSAID
Technologies; and Sharon Sanzo, Director, Human Resources, GlaxoSmithKline
- The performance model of employee effectiveness
- Making them stay: identifying what is important to the employee
- The effects and costs of attrition
- Developing and implementing a retention plan during M&As
- Creating a strategic partnership between HR and senior management
- The importance of relationships and effective leadership
Video: 46 minutes Overheads
PANEL Letting people go with dignity is good for business
Chris Deja, KPMG Consulting LP (Panel Chair); Susan Silverman,
Vice-President, Human Resources, Aluma Systems; Joanna Musselman, Manager,
Human Resources, NCR Canada Ltd.; and Warren Bell, Managing Director and
Global Head of Human Resources, TD Securities
- Considering the business impact of terminations
- Minimizing costs of the termination process
- Focusing on organizational values
- Reviewing the termination decision
- The importance of planning: logistics and the termination meeting
- Supporting the remaining employees and undertaking large-scale
restructuring
Video: 34 minutes Speaker's paper: 3131 words
Ensuring that your terminations are free of discrimination
Patricia J. Guselle, Manager, Employee Relations, and Mmaphuti
Tsolo, Senior Employment Services Specialist, Federal Express Canada Ltd.
- Applying current human rights legislation
- Creating and maintaining a culture and workplace free from
discrimination
- The Guaranteed Fair Treatment procedure
- Establishing an anti-harassment board
- Best practices for terminations and administrative dismissals
- Safeguard measures to prevent litigation
Video: 38 minutes Speakers' paper: 3588 words
Preventing and containing volatile terminations
Jacquelyn Saad, Senior Vice-President, Director of Human
Resources, Bank of America Canada; Hugh J. Haley, Haley & Associates; and
David T.A. Cτtι, Baker & McKenzie
- How workplace terminations can go wrong
- Immediate responses to employment termination
- Post-employment termination issues
- Violence and risk assessment
- Seeking and using outside counsellors
- The psychologist report: making it court-ready
Video: 46 minutes Speakers' papers: 3346 words Overheads | 
