Employer Policies and Labour Law
9:30 AM - 4:00 PM PST Maritime Labour Centre 111 Victoria Drive Vancouver, BC V5L 4C4
This class is IN-PERSON at the Maritime Labour Centre in Boardroom #3. Lunch will be provided.
This course will lay the foundation for your understanding of employer policies and their relationship to labour law. We will look at when employer policies are permitted and when they are not, when policies should be challenged, and what legal tests a policy will need to pass in order to hold up in arbitration. We will learn the “KVP test” utilized by arbitrators and look are more recent developments in case law.
Facilitator: Melissa VanderHouwen, Moore Edgar Lyster LLP
Melissa VanderHouwen (she/her) provides practical advice and cost-effective advocacy to unions regarding a wide variety of labour matters including discipline and discharge, collective agreement interpretation, policy grievances, organizing efforts, and unfair labour practice disputes. She has a particular interest in advising and advocating for unions and individuals on a variety of human rights issues. She has appeared before the BC Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, the BC Human Rights Tribunal, the Canadian Human Rights Commission, the BC Labour Relations Board, and in federal and provincial grievance arbitrations.
In the community, Melissa serves as Co-Chair of the CBABC Women Lawyers Forum Mentoring Committee. She has volunteered for LEAF, West Coast LEAF, Muddbunnies Running Club (BC), the Canadian Red Cross, and as President of her varsity rowing teams at the University of Ottawa and Simon Fraser University.