United States: 6 Tips For Building Stronger Compliance Foundations

Enforcement cases in 2014 highlighted the increasingly complex legal, business and ethical challenges faced by legal and compliance professionals across industries and national borders. Whether they are facing the challenges of a fast-paced, demanding global business environment, budgetary pressures and limited resources, myriad and sometime conflicting regulatory regimes, whistleblower complaints or government scrutiny, legal and compliance professionals who are on the frontlines every day know that—to be successful—they must strike a thoughtful balance that […]

By | February 12th, 2015 ||

United States: Labor Board Recalls Its Previous Email Message: Employees Now Have Protected Right To Use Company Email System For Union Organizing

On December 11, 2014, the National Labor Relations Board reversed course on the question of whether employees may use a company’s email system for union organizing and similar communications. Just seven years ago, the Labor Board held that employers who prohibited personal use of a company email system could also prohibit use of that system for union organizing or similar purposes. Now, even if personal use is prohibited, the Labor Board has decreed that […]

By | February 11th, 2015 ||

Canada: OHSA Charges Dismissed: Not Appropriate For MOL To Charge Under "General Duty" Clause Where Specific Regulation Addressed Safety Issue

In dismissing Occupational Health and Safety Act charges against an employer arising out of a fatality, an Ontario court has held that it is not appropriate for the Ministry of Labour to charge under the “general duty clause” found in s. 25(2)(h) of the OHSA to “extend requirements beyond those specifically outlined in” the regulations under the OHSA.

In the case at hand, a worker had been welding a large steel product, approximately 6.5 feet […]

By | February 11th, 2015 ||