United States: Oregon's Minimum Wage Now $2.00 Per Hour Higher Than Federal Rate

After a January 1st increase of 15 cents per hour, Oregon’s minimum wage now stands at $9.25 – exactly two dollars per hour more than the federal minimum wage rate of $7.25 per hour. That places Oregon near the top of the list of 29 states with minimum wage rates higher than the federal rate. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, only Washington and the District of Columbia have minimum wage rates […]

By | January 12th, 2015 ||

Canada: Dismissal Upheld After Sexual Threats Over Facebook

As one of the seminal decisions of 2014, USW and Tenaris Algoma Tubes Inc. raised the issues of off-duty conduct, sexual harassment / threats and social media. The grievance arbitration decision upheld the dismissal of an employee after he posted sexually threatening and harassing comments regarding another employee on his Facebook page.

Most of the facts were not in dispute. On the day in question, the grievor (referred to as “D”) was […]

By | January 10th, 2015 ||

Canada: Cumulative Misconduct: Mounting A Case For Just Cause

The Ontario Superior Court has released a decision, Chopra v. Easy Plastic Containers Limited (Chopra), in which a cumulative series of acts of misconduct by an employee were found justify his termination for cause. The decision provides a useful precedent for employers seeking to rely on repeated incidents of misconduct or poor performance to establish just cause for an employee’s dismissal.

Background

Chopra involved a shift supervisor who, over the course of roughly two years, was […]

By | January 10th, 2015 ||