School Board Update – Arbitrator Rules in Board’s Favour in Lakehead DSB Prep Time Payback Case

In our School Board FTR Now of January 31, 2011, we traced a series of disappointing arbitration decisions concerning the issue of “prep time payback”, the supposed obligation of school boards to reschedule prep time periods that are “missed” due to mandatory professional development activities, the monitoring of EQAO testing, the participation at the direction…

School Board Update – Court of Appeal Recognizes Employee Privacy Rights in Work Computer Subject to Employer Policy and Procedure

One week ago, the Ontario Court of Appeal issued a judgement that is very significant for its consideration of an employee’s expectation of privacy in personal information stored on a work computer. In R. v. Cole, the Court recognized an expectation of privacy in the specific circumstances of the case, but also demonstrated a willingness…

Hicks Morley Information and Privacy Highlights – Spring 2011

Welcome to the Spring 2011 Hicks Morley Information and Privacy Highlights! As you may have noticed, we’ve recently re-vamped our publication and introduced a shorter, more condensed version of our traditional Post, designed to provide you with the most relevant and leading case law. The Highlights will now be published three times annually and will…

School Board Update – The Prep Time Payback Saga

School boards will recall that the topic of “missed preparation time” was addressed in the 2009 Provincial Discussion Table (“PDT”) negotiations. This led to provincial template language that stated “missed preparation time shall only be re-scheduled where a teacher is required by the principal to provide instruction during his or her scheduled preparation time for…

2011 Winter Issue

FOCUS ON MUNICIPAL Municipal miracles – doing more with less LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS Attendance management and innocent absenteeism Child-related responsibilities and family status protection PROFILE From farm to firm Download PDF

School Board Update – ECE Representation Disputes: OLRB Sidesteps Arbitration Award

In York Region District School Board, the Ontario Labour Relations Board (“OLRB”) considered an application for certification by the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (“ETFO”) to represent the Board’s designated early childhood educators (“DECEs”). In this case, an arbitrator had already determined that the Board’s DECEs were included in an office, clerical, technical and educational…

Hicks Morley Information and Privacy Post – Fall 2010

Welcome to the Fall 2010 Quarterly Edition of the Hicks Morley Information and Privacy Post! As always, we bring you this quarter’s case law updates in privacy, freedom of information, confidentiality and the law of production. Highlights in this quarter include State Farm v. Privacy Commissioner of Canada, [2010] FC 736, where the Federal Court…

2010 Fall Issue

LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS eProblems with eDiscovery FOCUS ON TEAM USA The Growing Need for U.S. Cross-border Expertise PROFILE The Art of the Deal Download PDF

2010 Summer Issue

LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS Student Communication Through Social  Media – The Struggle to Define Misuse “Stress” Leave – The Legal Framework FOCUS ON SCHOOL BOARDS Tales Out of School PROFILE Making School a Priority Download PDF