Employees in British Columbia may be unsure about their rights when it comes to deductions from their salary or wage payments. The BC Employment Standards Act, RSBC 1996, c 113, authorizes some deductions and takes action against employers who make unauthorized deductions.

A British Columbia family who lost a loved one who died an unexpected death in March last year might be able to move forward after a year of battling with unanswered questions. Workplace accidents can be particularly traumatic because investigations can take many months before the cause of the incident is officially determined.

Business owners in British Columbia will know that there are many intricacies when it comes to the rights of their employees. One issue that often creates tension between management and employees is when employees want to form or join a union and the employer does not approve.

Pay equity, or the equal pay for work of equal value regardless of gender, is a human right. As such, employers have an obligation to ensure that they do not practice gender-based discrimination in their pay schemes.

In the age of easily accessed and readily shared information, it should come as no surprise that things that were once considered acceptable have started raising eyebrows. Before employees could access salary information on company review sites or co-workers could communicate via instant messaging service, salary information was far more discrete.

Under human rights legislation, including the British Columbia Human Rights Code and the Canadian Human Rights Act, employers must adjust workplace practices, policies and rules to allow full participation by all employees up to the point of undue hardship.

On April 28th, 2018, Canadians took a moment to pause and pay tribute to victims and survivors of workplace injuries. The National Day Of Mourning, or Workers’ Mourning Day, recognizes and honours the thousands of individuals and families who have had their lives irrevocably changed as a result of an occupational disease or workplace accident.

Although medicinal use of marijuana in British Columbia has been legal for some time, legalization of recreational use of this drug is on the horizon. Employment law will likely undergo some adjustments when the non-medicinal use of cannabis becomes legal.

Firefighters in British Columbia and other provinces and territories face multiple safety hazards. Instances of workplace injury are prevalent because they work in dangerous situations in which they are often exposed to extreme conditions that include high temperatures.

Employers in British Columbia face many challenges when it comes to the human rights of their employees. Under employment law, unanticipated claims may arise, and because they were not evident at first, employers can find themselves in a tight spot.

The safety of employees of British Columbia businesses is not only a concern for the workers, it should be the primary concern of employers as well. The fact that employment law requires employers to provide safe workplaces should not put a burden on employers while it benefits employees.

In British Columbia, employers must comply with workplace equity laws. Under the employment law of Canada, job descriptions and the wages offered for each position must not be based on the person but rather the job. The remuneration for men and women must be equal for equally valued jobs, and not necessarily for the same job.

There are many grey areas when it comes to employees moving from one company to another in British Columbia. While you may be concerned about another company poaching staff who are valuable to your business, it would be naive to expect a former employee to forget everything he or she learned while working for you.

Construction company owners in British Columbia who disregard the safety and health of employees in favour of maximizing profits may not realize that injured workers will adversely affect the bottom line. Instead, proactive steps can avoid instances of workplace injury while non-compliance fines under the occupational health and safety requirements laws can be prevented.

Construction work sites are known hazardous areas at which employers are expected to protect the health and safety of employees. However, construction site accidents continue to occur in British Columbia, and safety authorities are looking at ways in which to change this.

Safety advocates expressed their concern about the rate of fatalities in the construction industry. At the annual commemoration of a 1981 workplace accident in Vancouver when a construction platform collapsed, surviving family members of four workers who died there came together.

Workplace harassment has been a topic that was the subject of discussion in many British Columbia industries in recent months. Under employment law, employees have the right to safe workplace environments, but employers have the right to protection against groundless accusations of harassment.

Following a claim of workplace discrimination in British Columbia, the Supreme Court of Canada ultimately ruled that such discrimination is possible even if the accused and the claimant are employees of different entities. According to employment law and human rights legislation, all individuals are protected against discrimination and insults.

Workers in the film industry -- actors and actresses, dancers, stunt drivers, set workers and others -- face multiple safety risks while working on productions. However, the Occupational Health and Safety laws are not always clear on the status of workers.

As a business owner in British Columbia, you are obviously aware of the importance of handling investigations of workplace harassment claims appropriately. A flawed investigation can have significantly adverse consequences for an organization.