Arts & Sports

Professional sports leagues, major theatre production companies and other talent-driven businesses deal with a number of challenges: from managing labour disputes, to hiring top talent, to dealing with sexual harassment and workplace violence, to managing workplace safety and preventing injuries.

This industry also involves complex partnerships between international operators, government agencies, Crown corporations, and public and private companies. At Hicks Morley, we understand the unique complexities of your industry and can tailor solutions to meet your needs on a full range of human resources issues.

Clients

We have become a strategic legal partner to many clients in this sector including:

  • major professional sports leagues, teams and clubs
  • recreational sports facilities and associations
  • venues for the performing arts
  • theatre and ballet companies
  • art galleries and arts councils

Services

Drawing upon the full breadth of our human resources expertise, our service offerings include advice and representation relating to:

  • negotiation of employment contracts with top talent and advising on employee misconduct, suspensions and terminations
  • collective bargaining negotiations and interpretation of collective agreements
  • dispute resolution and crisis management advice to minimize labour disruption, when it occurs
  • litigation including class actions, wrongful dismissal claims, and pension and benefits disputes
  • human rights issues including drug testing and providing leadership training on accommodation issues and workplace investigations
  • privacy issues including use of social media by employees, use of video surveillance and biometric scanning, use of data mining and analytics for security purposes, compliance with anti-spam (CASL) legislation in marketing efforts, access to medical files
  • digital rights management
  • workers’ compensation claims and appeals
  • health and safety issues

We represent our clients in a variety of forums, appearing before arbitrators, labour boards, human rights tribunals, courts of law, and other administrative bodies.