Agenda

Day One: Tuesday, May 6, 2025

10:15 EDT

60 min
Jennifer Hodgins

The Status of the “Right to Disconnect” and Remote Work under the Canada Labour Code - Where Do We Stand?

Jennifer Hodgins, Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP

The Right to Disconnect under the Canada Labour Code refers to an employee’s right to not engage in work-related communications, such as emails or phone calls, outside of their normal working hours. This is intended to support better work-life balance, reduce stress, and address concerns about the impact of work on personal time.

  • The need for a written policy.
  • What should the policy cover?
  • Need for policy to comply with workplace standards, such as rest periods, hours of work, and overtime pay.

While some employers embraced remote work following Covid, even some of the most progressive, employee friendly employers, have ordered employees back to the office. This session will include information on the following:

  • Is there a right to work remotely in the Canada Labour Code?
  • What are your obligations under the Code?
  • Human Rights – accommodation, family status and the right to remote work.
  • Market data – what are others doing?

11:15 EDT

45 min
Sara Bennett

New and Noteworthy Decisions of the Canada Industrial Relations Board

Sara Bennett, Executive Director and Senior General Counsel, Canada Industrial Relations Board Secretariat

Stay up-to-date on the legislation and key decisions rendered by the Canada Industrial Relations Board and the Federal Court of Appeal in the federally regulated private sector. This session will alert you to important developments you may not know about:

  • Part I: Industrial Relations. New case law developments under Part I of the Code.
  • Part II: New jurisprudence in Occupational Health and Safety.
  • Part III: Standard Hours, Wages, Vacations and Holidays.

12:00 EDT

60 min

Break

13:00 EDT

45 min
Lennie Lejasisaks

Essential Insights and Analysis 2024 Strikes in the Federal Sector

Lennie Lejasisaks, Partner, Fasken

  • The tensions between preserving worker rights and adapting an organization to market pressures.
  • Are worker demands financially sustainable?
  • Doe worker demands hinder modernization efforts.
  • Section 107 – past, present and future.
  • Does s. 107 undermine the constitutional right to strike—a right recognized by the Supreme Court of Canada as integral to collective bargaining?

13:45 EDT

60 min
Gordon Campbell Marie-Claude Page

Practical Strategies to Avoid Fines, Naming and Shaming Relating to Harassment and Violence in Federally Regulated Workplaces

Moderator Gordon Campbell, Aubry Campbell MacLean

Marie-Claude Page, General Manager of Human Resources, Canada Post

  • Litigating Canada Labour Code harassment and retaliation cases before the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board.
  • Federal Court jurisprudence developments concerning the definition of harassment and remedies.
  • The legal landscape for Indigenous employers.

Effective Strategies Panel – Success Stories and Lessons Learned

The government’s level of tolerance is waning with each passing year and employers continue to find compliance in this area challenging. With a significant uptick in the number of complaints necessitating investigation, and the resulting increase in costs, the practical advice provided in this session is worth the price of admission. You can’t afford to play roulette when the consequences are monetary fines, naming and shaming.

  • What employers typically get wrong.
  • Time and attention required to change and update policies and procedures.
  • What is considered an occurrence of harassment and violence in the workplace?
  • More requirements than you know what to do with including: assessments to Identify risk factors, setting emergency procedures, timelines and guidance re resolution and investigation processes, privacy, reporting training requirements and more.
  • Government enforcement of regulations.
  • Practical strategies for managing the challenges.

14:45 EDT

15 min

Break

15:00 EDT

34 min

What’s New: Update On Leaves – Medical, Bereavement & Personal Leave – Stacking (& Other Practical Challenges Regarding Leaves)

New leave and benefit provisions came into force in 2022. How will you manage practical challenges that arise when you implement these new provisions? How will benefits offered by an employer interact with the medical leave with pay entitlement established in the Code? Serious questions arise, and the session will provide some invaluable answers to guide you through turbulent times. Issues addressed in this session include:

  • Changes to paid and unpaid medical leave.
  • Extension of unpaid leave to 27 weeks.
  • Does an employee out on LTD now have 10 days paid sick leave?
  • Bereavement leave changes in 2021.
  • New employer record-keeping requirements related to new leave entitlements.
  • How will Code leave entitlements interact with rights or benefits under a collective agreement?

15:45 EDT

45 min

What’s New: Update on Hours Of Work: New Rules and Important Exemptions!

In 2019, amendments to the Canada Labour Code addressed a myriad of issues, including shift change and work schedule notices, overtime (and when it can be refused), break and rest periods, as well as flexible work arrangements and greater vacation entitlements. More recently, amendments to the Regulations have laid out exemptions to some hours of work rules for employers in the telecommunications, broadcasting, banking, rail and air transportation industries.
This session help clarify these issues and provide:

  • An overview of what has changed (and what hasn’t!).
  • Specific guidance on overtime refusals, flexible work arrangements, and when notice of shift changes or work schedules must be provided, and what, if any, exceptions to these rules exist.
  • Practical advice on how to implement and ensure compliance with these Code provisions.
  • Details on the new hours of work exemptions and to which industries they apply.
  • Answers to YOUR questions about these chang.

16:30 EDT

End of Day One

Day Two: Wednesday, May 7, 2025

10:15 EDT

45 min
Michael Sherrard

Preparing for the Seismic Shift in Labour Relations: Impact and Ramifications of the Ban on Replacement Workers

Michael Sherrard, Managing Partner, Sherrard Kuzz

The ban on replacement workers in federally regulated workplaces in Canada, introduced under Bill C-58, will go into effect June 20, 2025. With strict prohibitions and requirements that will make it difficult to maintain operations, what will be the practical impact of this significant change in the law? This session will cover the nuts and bolts that comprise the new environment and explore the larger questions relating to how employers should prepare. The newly prohibited actions.

  • Comparison with experience from other similar legislation in Canada.
  • Narrow exceptions for emergencies.
  • Penalties (up to $100,000 per day!).
  • Need for Essential Services Agreements.
  • What does this change mean for day-to-day operations?
  • Will this change in the law improve labour relations or exacerbate tensions?
  • What changes should you expect?
  • How should you prepare?

11:00 EDT

45 min

Beyond Compliance with Relevant Laws in Promoting Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI)

This session will cover:

  • Specific obligations to promote DEI under the CLC and other legislation.
  • Practical steps for employers to comply and promote diversity:
  • Training Programs: Educate managers and employees about diversity, unconscious bias, and inclusivity.
  • Equity Audits: Regularly evaluate and update workplace policies to align with equity objectives.
  • Targeted Recruitment: Focus on outreach to underrepresented communities.
  • Leadership Representation: Encourage diverse representation in leadership roles.
  • Data Transparency: Share diversity statistics and progress reports publicly, fostering accountability.

11:45 EDT

45 min

Review of this Year’s Bargaining Deals to Significantly Improve Your Future Negotiations

By analyzing 2024 agreements, employers can benchmark their own policies, anticipate employee demands, and align with broader industry trends to maintain a competitive and harmonious workplace.

  • Current trends in compensation, flexible work, wellness and benefits, diversity, job security, automation, sustainability goals and more!
  • Identify patterns in union strategies to better prepare for future negotiations.
  • Align organizational goals with employee expectations.

12:30 EDT

45 min

Break

13:30 EDT

45 min
Alysha Sharma

Pay Transparency Across Canada: Are You Ready for Publication of Pay Gaps?

Alysha Sharma, Associate, Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP

  • Examining the growing trend amongst Canadian provinces towards creating greater transparency of wages.
  • What Canadian provinces have adopted pay transparency legislation.
  • What Canadian provinces have pending pay transparency legislation coming into force in the future?
  • Actions employers need to take to comply with the requirements of the legislation.

14:15 EDT

45 min
Nicole Fraser

Have You Missed Important Deadlines for Complying with the Accessible Canada Act?

Nicole Fraser, Human Resources Manager, Canada Cartage

Employers with 10 to 99 employees must have published their first accessibility plan by June 1, 2024, under the Accessible Canada Act. Larger employers must also publish annual progress reports by the same date, addressing accessibility achievements and feedback. These documents must meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and be shared with the Accessibility Commissioner. Where are you in the process?

  • Employers are required to prepare, publish, and regularly update accessibility plans in consultation with people with disabilities.
  • Requirement to collect feedback.
  • Deadlines have passed for organizations with 100 or more employees and organizations with 10 to 99 employees.
  • Upcoming deadline for federally regulated organizations with at least 10 employees.
  • Digital accessibility requirements.

15:00 EDT

45 min
Jimmy Vassilopoulos

How Purolator is Using Artificial Intelligence for Proactively Prevent Workplace Injuries

Jimmy Vassilopoulos, Director Health and Safety, Purolator

With AI reporting on the proportion of employees who are performing lifting tasks the correct/incorrect way, Purolator can proactively bring in training to prevent injuries before they happen, without infringing on anyone’s privacy.

15:45 EDT

45 min
Sandra Haydon

Pay Equity Compliance Deadline Has Passed - Compliance Obligations Have Not: Lessons Leaned From Over 20 Organizations

Sandra Haydon, Haydon Associates

Although the date for complying with the Federal Pay Equity Act has come and gone,
organizations who are covered under the Act, regardless of where they are in the process, must meet the requirements of the Act, retroactively (September 2024).

This session will provide an overview of key steps required for compliance, and will share lessons learned from over 20 organizations, both public sector and private sector, as they have completed, or are near completion, of their pay equity plans including:

  • What is the Act intended to accomplish and who does the Act apply to?
  • What are the requirements to meet the Act?
  • Processes and implications for having missed the deadline (requests for submissions,
  • retroactivity and interest).
  • Working with complex joint union management pay equity committees.
  • Communications and information sharing.
  • Long term maintenance and short term implications.

16:30 EDT

End of Day Two

Post-Conference Workshop: Thursday, May 8, 2025

13:00 EDT

180 min
Jennifer Wiegele

Building Resilience: Managing Operational Risks in the Public Sector

Jennifer Wiegele, Partner, Mathews, Dinsdale & Clark LLP

  1. Preventing Workplace Harassment.
  2. Managing Absenteeism.
  3. The Need for “Just Cause” to Dismiss an Employee with Over 12 Months On the Job.
  4. The importance of Progressive Discipline and more……

Stepped up enforcement, and increased penalties. If you are not complying with all the complex federal legislation out there, you could face serious monetary penalties, weakened workplace morale and really bad publicity.

Infonex created this comprehensive workshop to provide you with one stop shopping that will allow you to avoid the negative consequences of errors and mis-steps.

Jennifer Weigle, a uniquely qualified leader in compliance for Indigenous employers, will provide the practical how-to information and know-how you need to avoid potential land mines, keep your organization in the clear and perform your role with professionalism and confidence.

Everything you need: From what legislation applies to your organization, to compliance with the Canada Labour Code provisions including benefits, leave and hours of work requirements, legislation on Pay and Employment Equity, The Accessible Canada Act, the Human Rights Code and more.

You will learn:

  • How to assess whether your employment relationships are federally or provincially regulated and why it matters.
  • Tips and strategies for handling the difficult aspects of accommodation in challenging circumstances.
  • Accommodating mental health and addiction in the workplace.
  • Incorporating culture and traditions into the workplace.
  • Implementing fair and effective employee performance assessment processes.
  • Contemplating important succession planning for the future of your organization.
  • Ensuring your break leave and other provisions comply with legislative changes.