We regularly assist employers and their executives with:

• Business immigration and relocation;
  
• Compliance with employment related statutes;
  
• Director and officer liability issues and fiduciary duties;
  
• Drafting and enforcing confidentiality, non-solicitation and non-competition covenants;
  
• Employee drug and alcohol testing;
  
• Employment contract and incentive compensation issues;
  
• Employment-related class proceedings;
  
• Health and safety in the workplace including the strategic planning of worker's compensation assessments;
  
• Human rights and harassment in the workplace, including workplace violence;
  
• Executive compensation planning;
  
• Management education and training;
  
• Managing chronically ill and absent employees;
  
• Occupational health and safety;
  
• Outsourcings, restructurings and plant and facility closures;
  
• Pay equity;
  
• Privacy and access to information issues in the employment setting;
  
• Pleading employment-related litigation;
  
• Privacy and access to information issues;
  
• Proactive and strategic advice regarding relevant laws;
  
• Reorganization and workforce reduction;
  
• Strategic human resources planning;
  
• Termination and severance practices and arrangements;
  
• Transition and retention programs, and retirement benefits;
  
• Workplace policies; and
  
• Wrongful dismissal.

In the field of labour relations, we focus exclusively on representing management. Our services in this field include advice and representation in:

• Collective agreement administration;
  
• Collective bargaining;
  
• Discipline and termination of employment;
  
• Instituting proactive and positive employee relations practices and programmes;
  
• Labour arbitration and dispute resolution;
  
• Industrial conflicts (strikes, lock-outs and picketing);
  
• Successor-employer proceedings;
  
• Unfair labour practices;
  
• Union organizing, certification and decertification campaigns; and
  
• Strategic labour advice.

Members of the Group regularly appear as counsel for employers in the courts and before various employment and labour-related administrative tribunals both under federal and provincial legislation.

While we often deliver our services on a continuing basis, we are also regularly involved in the employment and labour-related aspects of commercial transactions, including those arising from mergers, acquisitions, insolvency and receivership, and in strategic employment and human resource planning. Our advice includes negotiating the human resources aspects of a corporate transaction and drafting various related agreements including transition services agreements, employment agreements and restrictive covenant agreements.

Recognition

The Group has been recognized as a leader in the Canadian marketplace by Chambers Global's Guide to the Leading Lawyers for Business. The Group has also been endorsed by PLC Which Lawyer?, with our Quebec practice cited in the area of labour and employment and our Ontario practice cited in the area of pensions and benefits.

Professional Activities

Several members of the group have lectured at the university level, authored books, legal service manuals and articles, including Le congédiement déguisé au Québec - Fondements théoriques et aspects pratiques, The Employment Contract, Le contrat d'emploi, Executive Employment Law, Les dirigeants: leurs droits et leurs obligations, as well as a section dealing with labour law in the publication titled Doing Business in Canada.

As part of our commitment to assist corporate leaders to establish and refine positive management and employee practices, we regularly provide in-house seminars and produce newsletters that address topical and timely employment issues.

Recent Group Activities

Pension Seminar in Toronto
Members of our Employment, Labour & Pension Group hosted a seminar "The Pension Puzzle: Putting the Pieces Together" on June 3. Click here for an audio-taping of the seminar.

Employment & Labour lawyer speaking at restructuring conference
September 28-29 / Gary Clarke will speak on Human Rights in the New Economy at Insight's Western Canada Employee Terminations & Restructuring conference in Calgary.

Why we should care about Kerry - SE lawyer publishes Benefits Canada column
Gary Nachshen's latest column, an examination of some of the more interesting aspects of the Supreme Court of Canada's recent decision in the Elaine Nolan et al. v. Kerry (Canada) Inc. case, is now available on the Benefits Canada website.

Pension lawyer publishes latest column in Benefits Canada
Gary Nachshen's column in which he demystifies the concept of the deemed trust has been published in Benefits Canada.

Executive Compensation Guide - now available
Stikeman Elliott has released Executive Compensation After the Boom: A Guide for Canadian Public Companies in 2009, which discusses a number of significant issues including the various elements available in designing compensation packages for Canadian executives and current trends in executive compensation. Click here to request a copy.

Employment Seminar Webcast
Stikeman Elliott's Employment, Labour & Pension Group co- hosted a seminar in October 2008 with the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) on " A Year in Review: Have You Kept Up with Employment Law Issues?" covering topics such as overtime, social networking and recent case law. Click here to view the webcast.

Pension lawyer authors article on Executive Compensation
Gary Nachshen has written an article in Benefits Canada entitled "Consider Your Options " regarding executive compensation.

Lawyer authors article on pension
Gary Nachshen has written an article in Benefits Canada entitled "The Régie Strikes Back" regarding the Quebec government issuing a series of proposed amendments to the Supplemental Pension Plans Act.

Calgary lawyer quoted in labour law article
Barbara Johnston, head of the Calgary office's Employment and Labour  Group, is quoted in an article in the August, 2008 edition of Canadian Lawyer. The article - "Signs of Change" - discusses the potential impacts of B.C.'s and Ontario's new human rights tribunal systems on employment and labour cases involving human rights complaints.

SCC leave denied in Alberta drug testing case
The Supreme Court of Canada has denied leave to appeal in an Alberta case involving the right of employers to test workers in safety-sensitive jobs for drugs. Calgary partner Barbara Johnston represented the successful intervenors, including Syncrude, Imperial Oil and Suncor in the appeal before the Alberta Court of Appeal, which upheld the right of employers to conduct such testing and make termination decisions based on the outcome.

Partner quoted in Benefits Canada
May 20 / Gary Nachshen from the Toronto office is quoted in the Benefits Canada online article "Court Allows HBC Appeal" regarding the recent appeal on pension plans.  Toronto lawyer Andrea Boctor's Done Deal article is also mentioned in the article.

Toronto lawyer authors regular column in Benefits Canada
Gary Nachshen will be authoring a bi-monthly column in Benefits Canada magazine's "Online Expert Panel." The first column appearing is on "Rules of the Pension Investment Game".

Paper available on Pensions at Work
Ashley Taylor, a member of the Insolvency Group, and Andrea Boctor, a member of the Employment, Labour & Pensions Group, co-authored a paper on "Pensions at Work: Employer Insolvency and the Pension Plan" which was presented at the OBA Pensions and Benefits Programme on February 5, 2008.

New book on Employment & Labour Law: Quebec
Montréal lawyers Patrick L. Benaroche and Jean-Marc Fortin authored a new law book entitled Le congédiement déguisé au Québec - Fondements théoriques et aspects pratiques (Constructive Dismissal in Quebec - Theoretical Foundations and Practical Aspects). More info (French only).