2016 Hot Button HR Legal Issues for Education Professionals

Faculty Agenda Download Brochure PDF

This 3^rd annual OsgoodePD program was designed based on your feedback, to focus exclusively on the most critical human resource issues facing school boards today.  You will hear about critical issues, including:

• The employer’s duty to report under the Ontario College of Teachers Act
• Identifying, accommodating and managing mental health issues
• Implications of the Ontario Human Rights Code for school boards’ employment practices
• What to do when employee misconduct and disability overlap

Faculty

Chair

• Jennifer Trépanier, Keel Cottrelle LLP

• Jane M. Gooding, Filion Wakely Thorup Angeletti LLP
• Craig A. Lewis, RZCD Law Firm LLP
• Sapna Mahajan, Director, Prevention and Promotion Initiatives, Mental Health Commission of Canada
• Nicola Simmons, Keel Cottrelle LLP
• Glenn Stuart, StuartLaw
• Robyn White, Cavalluzzo Shilton McIntyre Cornish LLP
• Meaghen A. Russell, Filion Wakely Thorup Angeletti LLP

Agenda

• 2016 Hot Button HR Legal Issues for Education Professionals

  Original Date: April 18, 2016

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  • 8:00 am
    Registration and Continental Breakfast
  • 8:30 am
    Welcome and Introduction from the Chair

    JENNIFER TRÉPANIER, Keel Cottrelle LLP

    To prepare you for the day’s sessions, the program Chair will present a complex fact scenario that designed to get you thinking about issues that will be discussed throughout the day, including:

    • Mental health and accommodations
    • Conducting workplace investigations
    • Privacy rights: striking the right balance
  • 8:50 am
    Top HR Issues Facing Educators in 2016

    JENNIFER TRÉPANIER, Keel Cottrelle LLP CRAIG A. LEWIS, RZCD Law Firm LLP A concise update on the current and critical HR legal issues in 2016 and the potential implications for school boards, including:

    • Student-teacher harassment: implications for school boards
    • Heightened human rights damage awards on the basis of sex discrimination
    • Does “family status” include elder care?
    • Age discrimination: what you need to be aware of
    • Damages awarded to an employee fired due to pregnancy
    • Off duty employee conduct: when employer may be liable
    • What you need to know about indefinite administrative suspensions and constructive dismissal
  • 10:05 am
    Refreshment Break
  • 10:20 am
    Understanding the Latest on Privacy Rights and Obligations for School Boards

    NICOLA SIMMONS, Keel Cottrelle LLP
    KIMBERLEY ISHMAEL, Keel Cottrelle LLP

    Using a practical approach, the facilitators will walk you through best practices and current law related to the very latest privacy issues facing school boards, including:

    • Privacy considerations when conducting workplace investigations
    • GPS tracking
    • Video surveillance and monitoring of staff
    • Employer-issued computers: recent decisions of interest
    • Employee use of social media & potential privacy implications
    • Striking the right balance between employee/employer rights
    • Best practices in implementing privacy policies in the workplace
    • Top privacy cases in 2015
  • 11:10 am
    Challenges and Best Practices in Balancing The Human Rights of Staff and Students

    GLEN STUART, Stuart Law

    • Competing rights: overview of the key challenges
    • Strategies for determining how to prioritize competing rights
    • Student human rights issues vs teacher/staff right to a safe workplace: how to strike the right balance
    • Pre-empting conflict of rights versus responding to conflict of rights
  • 12:00 pm
    Luncheon
  • 12:45 pm
    Strategies for Conducting Effective Workplace Investigations

    MEAGHEN A. RUSSELL, Filion Wakely Thorup Angeletti LLP JANE M. GOODING, Filion Wakely Thorup Angeletti LLP

    • School board obligation to investigate where potential exists for negative impact on the school
    • Investigation strategies to address inappropriate behavior involving students or co-workers including: off-duty conduct; pornography; cyber bullying
    • Consequences of a school board’s failure to reasonably investigate
    • Investigation best practices including:
      • Who should conduct investigation?
      • Resources/skills required to conduct effective investigation
      • Union roles
      • Evidentiary issues
    • Review of recent cases focusing on workplace investigations
  • 1:30 pm
    Employee Mental Health: From Obligation to Accommodation

    SAPNA MAHAJAN, Director, Prevention and Promotion Initiatives, Mental Health Commission of Canada
    ROBYN WHITE, Cavalluzzo Shilton McIntyre Cornish LLP

    • Impact of mental health issues in the workplace: statistical, economic and social
    • Employer obligation to provide a safe workplace
    • Potential consequences for failing to fulfill your obligations
    • Review/analysis of the first National Standard on Psychological Health & Safety In the Workplace
    • Why invest in employee mental health?
    • Development of processes and structures in the workplace to address psychological health & safety
    • Case study review: a look at implementation challenges, opportunities & barriers in the education sector
    • The evolution of the law: moving towards mental health accommodations and obligations
    • Current developments around mental health stress claims; WSIB claims; grievance claims; accommodations; return to work
  • 2:15 pm
    Refreshment Break
  • 2:30 pm
    HR Case Study Analysis: Bringing it All Together

    JENNIFER TRÉPANIER, Keel Cottrelle LLP
    JANE M. GOODING, Filion Wakely Thorup Angeletti LLP
    ROBYN WHITE, Cavalluzzo Shilton McIntyre Cornish LLP

    In this final session of the day, these experts will focus on the key topics/issues of the day and what lessons can be taken away. This is an excellent opportunity to hear from and engage these experts on how you can take the knowledge you have gained from the day’s sessions and apply it directly into your school or board setting.

  • 3:30 pm
    Program Concludes

Group Discounts

Please note that the group discount is only available when paying for members of the same organization, at the same time, and payment is made with one invoice.

Webcast Fee per Delegate

2-3 delegates: 25% off program fee
4-10 delegates: 30% off program fee
11+ delegates: 35% off program fee
Boardroom rates available.

Delivery

The video stream, including link to program materials will be sent to you via email as soon as payment is successfully processed.

Refunds

All sales are final. Please make all enquiries related to program content and CPD/MCLE credit hours prior to purchase.

Technical Support

In the event you experience technical difficulties, please contact opdsupport@osgoode.yorku.ca for assistance.