The purpose of this session is to provide both senior human resources professionals and in-house counsel with a refresher and update on pay equity maintenance issues; new issues arising at the Pay Equity Commission; implications for collective bargaining; as well as an update on recent jurisprudence relating to the pay equity obligations of employers.
The session will also address the unique professional obligations and implications arising out of pay equity for in-house counsel as advisors to organizations, but which are of similar importance to human resources professionals in their advisory capacity as well. The issues reviewed will include the following:
- the obligation to be competent counsel in the area of pay equity;
- how to properly deal with unrepresented litigants who raise issues of pay equity, including complaints to the Commission or Tribunal;
- how to deal with unopposed Applications to the Tribunal and counsel’s duty to the Tribunal as well as to their client;
- dealing with the difficulties presented when advising consultants retained by clients;
- how to address issues of conflict of interest between client contacts who may be incumbents in affected job classes or for lawyers sitting on Boards of Directors; and
- how to ethically balance the practical business needs of a client in light of the legal compliance issues raised by the Pay Equity Act.
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This program has been accredited by the Law Society for 0.5 Professionalism Hour |