Chapter 13 - Employee Rights and Discipline

Question 1

Three Regimes of Employment Law

Answer 1

1. The Common Law
2. Statutory regualtion
3. Collective bargaining and arbitration law

Question 2

Common law of employment

Answer 2

the body of case law in which courts interpret employment contracts and the legal principles taken from those cases that guide the interpretation of employment contracts

Question 3

Implied contract terms -

Answer 3

terms judges read into employment contracts when the written contract does not expressly deal with the matter

Question 4

Employment equity legislation

Answer 4

address systemic discrimination against the designated groups, pay equity legislation, occupational health and safety legislation, labour relations law

Question 5

Collective agreement

Answer 5

an employment contract between an employer and a union that sets out the terms of employment of a group of the employer’s employees represented by the union

Question 6

Labour arbitrator

Answer 6

a person assigned to interpret and decide disputes (“grievances”) about the meaning, interpretation, and application of a collective agreement governing employees in a unionized workplace

Question 7

Constructive dismissal

Answer 7

when an employer commits a fundamental breach of the contract, such as by unilaterally changing a key term of the contract, the employee can treat the breach as a termination

Question 8

Dismissal of Nonunion Employee: Wrongful Dismissal

Answer 8

Must give reasonable notice to employee

Assessing notice - the length of service with the employer and the nature of the job performed by the employee

Question 9

Summary dismissal

Answer 9

when a nonunion employer terminates an employee without notice because the employee has committed a serious breach of the contract

Question 10

Wrongful dismissal

Answer 10

a lawsuit filed in a court by an employee alleging that they were dismissed without proper contractual or reasonable notice

Question 11

Statutory rights -

Answer 11

• legal entitlements that derive from government legislation

Question 12

Progressive discipline

Answer 12

application of corrective measures by increasing degrees

Question 13

Positive, or non punitive, discipline

Answer 13

a system of discipline that focuses on early correction of employee misconduct, with the employee taking total responsibility for correcting the problem

Question 14

Alternative dispute resolution (ADR)

Answer 14

a term applied to different types of employee complaint or dispute resolution procedures

Question 15

Step - review system

Answer 15

a system for reviewing employee complaints and disputes by successively higher levels of management

Employees → supervisor → department head → HR department → top management

Question 16

Peer review system

Answer 16

system for reviewing employee complaints that uses a group composed of equal numbers of employees representatives and management appointees, which functions as a jury because its members wight evidence, consider arguments, and, after deliberation, vote independently to render a final decision

Question 17

Open-door policy

Answer 17

• a policy of settling grievances that identifies various levels of management above the immediate supervisor for employee contact

Question 18

Ombudsperson

Answer 18

a designated individual from whom employees may seek counsel for resolution of their complaints

Question 19

Mediation

Answer 19

the use of an impartial third-party neutral to reach a compromise decision in employment disputes

Question 20

Mediator

Answer 20

a third party in an employment dispute who meets with one party and then the other to suggest compromise solutions or to recommend concessions from each side that will lead to an agreement