AGENDA

All times in PT

• 8:30 AM

  Registration & virtual orientation

• 9:00 AM

  Opening remarks

• 9:05 AM

  Legal implications of AI in workplace

  AI is playing an increasingly important role in HR management, capable of assisting or altogether automating HR’s hiring, performance management, and disciplinary processes. However, along with the efficiencies that AI presents to HR professionals, it also raises legal risks. This session will explore the growing use of AI in HR management and highlight the legal implications, providing best practices for avoiding potential liabilities.

  • Impact of AI on employers and employees: AI technology to screen resumes, analyze interviews, and issue disciplinary decisions
  • Legislative responses to AI use by employers: Navigating the rapidly evolving legal and regulatory landscape surrounding AI
  • Ethical and legal HR issues surrounding the use of AI: Potential legal risks in using AI tools for HR management decisions
  • Risks regarding the protection of personal information associated with the use of AI: Privacy, data and human rights concerns
  • Addressing the built-in risk of biases when using AI: Legal risks associated with automated hiring tools
  • Best practices for drafting effective AI policies that provide a roadmap for ethical AI use, ensuring fairness, transparency, privacy, and accountability to mitigate legal risks

  

  Shana Wolch

  Partner
  McCarthy Tetrault LLP

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  Shana Wolch

  Partner
  McCarthy Tetrault LLP

  Shana Wolch is a partner in our Labour and Employment Group in Calgary. She assists clients with all of their day-to-day human resources matters. Shana’s practice also includes occupational health and safety (safety compliance, investigations and defence of charges), workers’ compensation and disability management, human rights, and privacy. Shana has extensive experience with alcohol and drug policies, administration and compliance; cannabis (from assisting start-up growers and retail companies through to managing personnel and fitness for duty), workplace investigations, white collar crimes, and mergers and acquisitions and management side labour issues. She also participates actively in our National Pensions, Benefits and Executive Compensation Group, and our Transportation Group.

  Shana assists clients in various industries including oil and gas, energy, utilities, transportation, retail, manufacturing, hospitality, educational and financial services.

  Shana is a member of the Board Directors of the Mount Royal University Foundation and is the Board Secretary for Rundle College Society. Shana is recognized by Chambers Canada and Best Lawyers in Canada in the area of Labour and Employment Law and in the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory in the area of Workplace Human Rights (Employer). She is also recognized in The Legal 500 – Canada as a Next Generation Lawyer in the area of Labour & Employment. She has served as the Alberta Director on the Board of Directors for the Canadian Association of Counsel to Employers (CACE), and is a past chair of the CBA Labour & Employment Subsection (Alberta Branch).

• 9:40 AM

  PANEL: Key employment contract considerations: Focus on terminations

  The increasing complexity in employment law has made the careful drafting of employment agreements more critical than ever before. Employers have seen an increased risk of successful wrongful termination claims while facing a host of new termination legal issues, including the questioning of the enforceability of severance provisions. This session will explore the latest legal developments pertaining to employment contracts, with a focus on recent cases and trends in terminations and best practices for avoiding higher severance payments and potential damages through effective employment contract drafting.

  • Recent decisions and legislative developments affecting the enforceability and interpretation of employment contracts, incentive plans and termination clauses
  • Understanding what constitutes wrongful dismissal in BC: overview of recent case law on wrongful dismissal claims
  • Managing the termination process to mitigate liability: adequate notice, severance payments, and proving just cause
  • Enforceability of restrictive covenants: how to minimize the risk of your contract being found as unenforceable
  • Best practices for changing terms of employment: Addressing issues of variances, averaging agreements and overtime
  • Practical tips for contracting for remote and hybrid work: type of policies that you would want to have in place to address entitlements upon terminations
  • Defining amounts payable and not payable for incentive compensation upon termination: what constitutes appropriate severance
  • Practical insights into type of severance provisions to include in employment agreements

  Moderator

  

  Matthew Cooperwilliams

  Partner
  Cooperwilliams Truman LLP

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  Matthew Cooperwilliams

  Partner
  Cooperwilliams Truman LLP

  Matthew Cooperwilliams has almost 35 years’ experience practising labour and employment law and related litigation.  After practising as a partner at a major national law firm and then in one of Canada’s largest labour and employment boutiques he opened his own boutique firm in 2019.  For many years Matthew was an Adjunct Professor of employment law at UBC’s Allard School of Law and Chair of the Continuing Legal Education Society of BC’s annual employment law conference.  In the last two years he has been very excited to add work as a mediator to his labour and employment practice.

  Panelists

  

  Kacey Krenn

  Partner
  Harris & Company LLP

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  Kacey Krenn

  Partner
  Harris & Company LLP

  Kacey advises and represents private and public employers on all aspects of the employment relationship. In particular, she focuses on grievances, human rights issues, wrongful dismissals, discrimination claims, policy reviews, and employment agreements. She has appeared before the Supreme Court of British Columbia and the BC Court of Appeal, as well as the BC Labour Relations Board, the Canada Industrial Relations Board, the BC Human Rights Tribunal, and the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Tribunal.

  Kacey has over a decade of experience working with small, medium, and large federal and provincial clients, predominantly in the post-secondary, film and television, and high technology sectors.

  Kacey takes a calm, quiet, and practical approach to employment law matters. She enjoys a challenge and specializes in solving seemingly intractable problems. She methodically sifts through information to uncover underlying issues and then, armed with that knowledge, crafts a tailored solution for the situation. She balances her detail-oriented nature with a genuine enjoyment of the human aspect of her work, which fosters strong, long-term relationships with her clients.

  Kacey is co-chair of the firm’s Higher Education group.

  

  Paul Pulver

  Partner
  Pulver, Crawford Munroe LLP

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  Paul Pulver

  Partner
  Pulver, Crawford Munroe LLP

  Paul received his B.A. in Economics from McGill University in 1991 and his LL.B. from the University of British Columbia in 1994. After articling with a large Vancouver law firm, he was called to the B.C. Bar in 1995.

  Paul acts for a wide variety of employers and employees in the private and public sectors. He has appeared as counsel before various courts and administrative tribunals, including the British Columbia Supreme Court, the British Columbia Court of Appeal, the Federal Trial Court and Court of Appeal, the B.C. Labour Relations Board, the Canada Industrial Relations Board, the B.C. Employment Standards Tribunal, the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal, and arbitration and regulatory boards.

  Paul has written several articles on labour relations, employment and sports law matters, and is an entertaining speaker on those subjects at Continuing Legal Education, B.C. Human Resources Management Association and other seminars, and on various media platforms.

  

  Andrew Schafer

  Partner
  Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP / S.E.N.C.R.L., s.r.l.

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  Andrew Schafer

  Partner
  Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP / S.E.N.C.R.L., s.r.l.

  Andrew Schafer advises clients on a variety of labour and employment matters, including labour relations, human rights, workers’ compensation, wrongful dismissals, unjust dismissals, employment standards, and compensation issues.

  Mr. Schafer prepares various labour and employment agreements such as employment contracts, confidentiality agreements, restrictive covenants, return to work agreements, and workplace policies. Mr. Schafer assists clients with corporate transaction by providing labour and employment advice relating to due diligence, transactional drafting and labour and employment matters related to those transactions. In addition, and as part of his broader labour and employment practice, Mr. Schafer advises on pension and benefits matters, including pension matters relating to plan design, plan amendments, plan mergers, regulatory compliance, and pension issues concerning corporate transactions.

• 10:30 AM

  Diversity, equity & inclusion in the workplace: Implications of BC’s new Pay Transparency Act

  DEI issues are increasingly important, as businesses seek to enhance engagement, develop a sense of belonging among employees, and ensure pay equity in line with new legislation. BC’s Pay Transparency Act, enacted in May, 2023, has laid the groundwork for substantial legal duties and reporting obligations for employers aimed at ensuring fairness in the workplace. This session will explore the provisions and requirements of the Act.

  • Assessing requirements of and interplay between Multiculturalism Act, Accessible BC Act, Anti-Racism Data Act and Pay Transparency Act
  • Integrating diversity and inclusion policies and protocols into the workplace
  • Key provisions and requirements of the Act: what HR professionals need to know
  • What enforcement of the Act may look like: Expectation for penalties
  • Updating employment policies and employment contracts to comply with the Act
  • Establishing data collection and reporting procedures: Types of information required and acting upon findings
  • The need to update HR systems to prepare for data collection

  

  Eleni Kassaris

  Partner
  Dentons

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  Eleni Kassaris

  Partner
  Dentons

  Eleni Kassaris is a partner and practice group leader in the Employment and Labour group of Dentons’ Vancouver office.

  Eleni has extensive experience advising employers in all aspects of employment and labour law. She represents clients in a wide range of industries, including technology, mining, property management, oil and gas, construction and life sciences.

  As part of her practice, Eleni acts in both an advisory capacity and as litigation counsel on matters relating to workplace disputes, including general workplace crisis management, hiring, discipline and termination matters; wrongful dismissal litigation; post-employment competition by former employees; human rights violations in the workplace; privacy matters; workers compensation, and occupational health and safety matters; compliance with employment standards; and executive compensation matters. To meet her clients’ evolving needs during the pandemic, Eleni has been leveraging her significant experience to provide clients with practical advice for managing emerging workplace issues including issues relating to remote work, compliance with public health orders, and developing responsive policies relating to screening and testing in the workplace.

  Eleni has appeared before the Supreme Court of British Columbia, the Court of Appeal for British Columbia and the Federal Court of Canada, and regularly represents clients on matters before various administrative bodies and tribunals, including the Human Rights Tribunal and the British Columbia Labour Relations Board.

  Eleni is a frequent speaker and author on labour and employment law topics, and has spoken to many groups on legal topics, including training seminars for other lawyers and for clients. She holds degrees from the University of British Columbia (BSc) and Western University (LLB).

  

  Victoria Merritt

  Associate
  Dentons

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  Victoria Merritt

  Associate
  Dentons

  Victoria Merritt is an associate in the Employment and Labour group in the Dentons Vancouver office.

  Victoria has diverse experience advising clients on managing all aspects of employment matters. She provides direct, practical advice with a focus on risk management and early conflict resolution. Where trial is necessary, Victoria is a skilled advocate in the courtroom and has appeared in all levels up to the Supreme Court of Canada. Driven by the importance of integrity and fair treatment, Victoria is passionate about employment law and consistently monitors emerging trends and case law on the subject.

  Prior to making employment law her area of focus, Victoria worked in construction law (including working as a legal student with a major Canadian construction company), administrative law, and municipal law. Her background provides her with an invaluable framework to understand a diverse range of working structures and business needs.

• 11:05 AM

  Networking and coffee break: Q&A ‘Ask the Experts’ breakout

  Have a question or comment for our panel of employment law experts? Join this short question and answer session to hear the answers to your most important HR and employment law queries.

• 11:40 AM

  Effective strategies for conducting workplace investigations: Best practices for responding to incident reporting

  The conducting of workplace investigations has become a critical component of the HR function. With the potential liabilities of a flawed investigation growing significantly, employers need to ensure that they can deliver a rapid response to incidents and conduct investigations in a timely, unbiased, and compliant manner. This session will provide best practices for conducting investigations and mitigating potential liabilities.

  • Developments in law and emerging trends related to responding to workplace complaints
  • Best practices for handling allegations of workplace misconduct: key steps for navigating an effective workplace investigations
  • Establishing effective policies for investigating incidents of bullying and harassment
  • Determining who should carry out investigations: deciding to keep investigation in-house or to outsource
  • Ensuring procedural fairness in investigations: legal requirements
  • Strategies for addressing the challenges of conducting investigations in a remote work environment
  • Steps to be taken to protect privacy and whistleblowers

  

  Sandra Guarascio

  Partner
  Roper Greyell LLP

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  Sandra Guarascio

  Partner
  Roper Greyell LLP

  Sandra is a partner at Roper Greyell and a member of its management committee. She practices in all areas of employment and labour law, with a focus in human rights and respectful workplace issues.

  Sandra is focused on the needs of her clients and works with public and private sector employers providing proactive and practical advice for unionized and non-unionized environments. Her particular interests include management-side representation, respectful workplace issues, investigations, hiring and termination issues, accommodation and disability management, collective agreement administration and disputes, workplace policy development and training.

  A strong advocate for her clients, Sandra offers a balanced approach to their workplace issues through creative problem solving and strategic intervention. Her methodology to client challenges enables her to find strong and thoughtful solutions. She provides strategic advice to employers in handling complaints and addressing respectful workplace issues including workplace and employment discrimination, harassment, bullying and workplace conflict. She is a skilled investigator who has conducted numerous workplace investigations including those in highly sensitive circumstances and in complex environments. She also designs and conducts workplace audits for employers and handles formal complaints provincially and federally.

  Sandra is an experienced facilitator and speaker, an instructor with the Pacific Coast University for Workplace Health Services, and a guest lecturer at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. She is also a volunteer with the BC Law Society and Continuing Legal Education, serving as co-chair of the award winning annual CLE Human Rights Conference.

  Outside the office, Sandra recharges by connecting with nature. She can usually be found meandering on beaches and trails with her family and their three much loved Rhodesian Ridgebacks.

• 12:15 PM

  The tort of harassment: Mitigating employers’ civil litigation risk

  Employers’ civil litigation risk is on the rise, with wrongful dismissal actions, mental distress claims and class actions based on discrimination and harassment having become more common, and the level of damages increasing significantly. A recent Alberta case became the first in Canada to recognize the tort of harassment. This decision has the potential to open the floodgates for harassment lawsuits. This session will examine the implications of a tort of harassment, the latest legal developments regarding workplace harassment, and strategies for mitigating employers’ civil litigation risk.

  • Trends that increase employers’ civil litigation risk: Emerging common law obligations
  • Best practices for updating your workplace policies, procedures, and prevention plans to mitigate risks
  • Implications of a tort of harassment for employers
  • Practical tips for drafting a stand-alone bullying policy: creating procedures for addressing complaints including cyberbullying
  • Criteria for establishing a successful claim for harassment: proactive measure employers can take to establish defences to an employee’s claim
  • Addressing the rise in employers’ vicarious liability for the conduct of their employees
  • Trends in damage rewards

  

  Robyn Jarvis

  Partner
  Harris & Company LLP

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  Robyn Jarvis

  Partner
  Harris & Company LLP

  Robyn combines an extensive civil litigation practice with relevant experience in employment law. She has advised and represented clients in a variety of sectors with complex corporate and commercial litigation issues, including professional regulatory matters, contractual disputes, shareholder disputes, negligence, breaches of trust and fiduciary duties, and civil fraud. Robyn’s employment law work has included acting on behalf of employers and employees with respect to wrongful dismissals, human rights complaints, and discrimination claims as well as providing general advice on a variety of employment related matters. Robyn also has experience conducting commercial arbitrations under the Commercial Arbitration Act.

  Although she has successfully settled numerous files, Robyn does not hesitate to take matters to trial when appropriate and has argued before all levels of court in British Columbia. Her trial experience also includes a brief position as Crown Prosecutor while on secondment to the Ministry of the Attorney General.

  Before joining Harris in 2016, Robyn was a partner at one of Vancouver’s leading litigation firms.

• 12:45 PM

  Lunch break

• 1:15 PM

  Accommodating family status in the workplace

  The changing nature of the workplaces, including the heightened use of remote and hybrid working arrangements combined with renewed calls to return to in-person work, has introduced more complex accommodation challenges for organizations. For example, a recent B.C. Court of Appeal case clarified and enhanced and expanded the circumstances in which accommodation based on family status will be required. This session will review recent developments in the law on family status discrimination and provide practical strategies for employers on how to address requests for accommodation based on family status.

  • Impact of Gibraltar Mines Ltd. v. Harvey: the legal test for family status discrimination in BC
  • Remedy awards in family status accommodation cases
  • Best practices for employers when receiving family status accommodation requests
  • Proactive steps you can take to ensure you are properly accommodating employees’ needs to avoid future litigation
  • Assessing and accommodating claims citing the inability to go back to work: How to re-integrate employees on return from extended leaves of absence

  

  Jay Lannon

  Lawyer
  Forte Workplace Law

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  Jay Lannon

  Lawyer
  Forte Workplace Law

  I have been practicing law in the areas of human rights, employment, labour, and professional regulation since 2018. I have spent the majority of my career in union-side labour law, working at both boutique union-side firms in Vancouver and as in-house counsel at two major public sector unions in BC. I have assisted both public and private sector unions with all kinds of matters, from grievances to bargaining strategy.

  I have also worked extensively with individuals on human rights, employment, and professional regulation matters. I love working with clients to find meaningful and cost-effective ways to resolve workplace issues.

  I am committed to intersectional social justice and to dismantling systems of colonization and oppression. I understand that the law is frequently one of these systems, and strive to assist clients to interact with the legal system in ways that minimize harms and maximize control and empowerment. As a member of the queer community, I have a particular interest in 2SLGBTQ+ issues and have worked with many queer and trans folks to address workplace discrimination.

  I have benefited from many wonderful mentors in my career and am always trying to pay that forward through my volunteer work. In particular, I have been volunteering with Pro Bono Students Canada as a supervising lawyer for the last three years, which has allowed me to work closely with many wonderful law students and queer organizations in Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, including Qmunity. If you are a law student or young lawyer and you want to talk to someone about this strange and sometimes beautiful career, email me!

  When I am not working, I am doing one of my numerous weird hobbies (as referenced above), including making soap, baking bread, crocheting, running Dungeon and Dragons campaigns, painting Dungeon and Dragons minis, playing video games, biking, running, rock climbing, surfing, and hiking. Whew! I’m tired already

• 1:50 PM

  How to handle challenging Constructive Dismissal and Without Cause Terminations: avoiding wrongful dismissal claims

  Constructive dismissal claims can be a lengthy and difficult process for employers and can often drag on for extended periods. As well, dismissing employees without cause can be a potential legal minefield. This panel discussion will look at steps employers can take to minimize the risks associated with terminating employees and constructive dismissals.

  • An overview of recent constructive dismissal cases: determining when an an employee can make a claim for wrongful dismissal
  • Establishing employees’ rights upon termination in current environment
  • Determining what is reasonable notice and who is entitled to receive it
  • How changes to an employee’s duties and responsibilities can lead to a constructive dismissal: changes an employer make to an employee’s terms and conditions of employment
  • How workplace environment can create a risk of constructive dismissal
  • Constructive dismissal allegations in the realm of harassment
  • Factors in the calculation of severance
  • Establishing reasons for dismissal: Proving just cause, defining gross misconduct, demonstrating progressive discipline
  • After-acquired cause: can evidence uncovered post-termination be used to formulate new grounds of just cause?

  

  Christopher Drinovz

  Partner
  KSW Employment Lawyers

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  Christopher Drinovz

  Partner
  KSW Employment Lawyers

  Chris Drinovz is a Partner at KSW Lawyers and the founder and leader of the Employment & Labour Group. His calling is to excellence through the mastery of his craft and tireless dedication to his clients. He is described as hard-working, trustworthy, and genuine. His strong analytical mind (grounded in a mathematics background) and passion for writing and language make him a force to reckon with.

  Chris works with business leaders and union and non-union organizations to solve workplace legal problems and achieve long-term solutions that align with his client’s values. He is a dedicated advisor and an experienced courtroom advocate with a track record of success.

  There is no workplace issue that Chris will not help with. His expertise covers the entire life cycle of the employer/employee relationship: drafting and advising on employment contracts and workplace policies, conducting investigations, WorkSafeBC and occupational health & safety, dismissal planning advice and severance packages, negotiation and mediation of employment disputes, injunctions to protect confidential information or enforce non-solicits or non-competes, and representation in wrongful dismissal, employment standards, or human rights complaints. Chris also advises employers on staying non-union and helps his union clients with certification, bargaining, labour relations matters under the collective agreement, and grievance arbitrations.

  Chris is comfortable navigating the many different arenas of workplace law: all levels of provincial and federal court, the Labour Relations (BC) and Canada Industrial Relations Board and administrative

  tribunals such as the Human Rights Tribunal, Employment Standards Tribunal, Workers Compensation Appeal Tribunal (WCAT), and Social Security Tribunal. Chris has also successfully challenged administrative decisions through judicial reviews and appeals.

  In 2021, Chris was recognized in the prestigious Canadian Legal “Lexpert” Directory as a Leading Lawyer to Watch in employment law for employers and employees. In the 2023 edition, Chris was recognized as a “Repeatedly Recommended” lawyer for Vancouver Leading Practitioners – Employers.

  Chris is a strong believer in community and giving back to the profession. He serves as the Vice President of the Greater Langley Chamber of Commerce and on the Policy Review Committee of the BC Chamber. He is also the Chair on the Executive of the Employment Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association BC. He is regularly sought after for speaking engagements and seminars.

  In his free time, Chris can be found skiing on the slopes of Whistler, powerlifting in his garage, listening to Miles Davis, or playing the drums for “Lost & Loaded” a cover band of legal professionals that pretend to be rockstars.

• 2:30 PM

  Closing remarks