leadership matters
Certifying HR’s Employment
Law Knowledge
Among HR’s many roles, human resources
professionals are responsible for ensuring
their organizations comply with labour
and employment law – keeping the employer
informed of their legislative requirements
and making sure employees are afforded at least the
minimum requirements set out in employment legislation
and common law. Consequently, a broad
knowledge of employment law is a necessity for effective
HR practice.
As we all know, this is not an easy feat and, unfortunately,
we don’t always get it right. Last summer,
HRPA interviewed 50 Ontario employment lawyers
on where HR professionals make mistakes in matters
of employment and workplace law. Using a critical
incident approach, HRPA asked the lawyers for instances
in which an organization’s HR staff made an
employment or workplace law error that had some
kind of negative consequence. From the 228 total incidents,
a list of the top 10 most common mistakes
was derived (see the top 10 list on the following page).
Employment law errors have serious repercussions
for both employer and employees. For example, failure
to properly pay vacation or overtime can result
in court costs; there can be significant fines and the
embarrassment of having the organization’s name
published on the Ministry of Labour website. And
failure to provide the appropriate accommodation for
an employee with a mental health issue could cause
the person’s condition to worsen.
By Brenda Clark, CHRE
Sergey Nivens/Shutterstock.com HRPATODAY.CA ❚ MARCH/APRIL 2016 ❚ 9