Thank you to our sponsors LK Law, MLT Aikins, and Harris & Co!


       

 


Join us for a comprehensive legal review as we wrap up the year! Our employment law experts will summarize key developments and prepare you for what to expect in 2025. 

HR professionals encounter a myriad of changes to employment laws and regulations annually. This virtual symposium event will provide clarity on these updates, including new and existing reporting requirements, as well as the implications of recent legislation changes for your workplace. 

SYMPOSIUM SESSIONS

Keynote Session: Legal Recap: Trends, Changes, and What’s Next

Speaker: Braeden Wiens - LK Law

Description: In this session, Braeden will provide a comprehensive overview of the most significant changes in Employment Law. HR professionals will gain insights into critical areas such as Pay Transparency legislation to evolving workplace standards, ensuring individuals who attend will understand how these shifts impact workplace policies and practices.

Learning Outcomes:

  • Upcoming changes to Pay Transparency legislation 
  • Implemented changes to the Employment Standards Act 
  • Proposed changes to both Human Rights Tribunals and WorksafeBC Complaints
  • Forthcoming changes to Temporary Foreign Worker legislation

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Keynote Session: Freedom of Expression in the Workplace

Speaker: Graham Christie - MLT Aikins

Description: Everyone has the freedom of thought, belief, opinion, and expression in Canada. However, such rights are not absolute, particularly in the workplace, and must be balanced with other rights like the right to a safe and respectful workplace free of discrimination, harassment, and hate. The pandemic, recent geo-political events, and a full slate of recent and upcoming elections, has pushed employee freedom of expression, both inside and outside the workplace, and its intersection with other important workplace rights to the top of the pile for many employers and HR professionals in BC.

Participants will establish comprehensive policies aimed at effectively balancing freedom of expression with the imperative of maintaining a safe and respectful workplace.

Learning Outcomes:

  • When do employees’ opinions become the employer’s business?
  • When can employees be disciplined for off-duty conduct? 
  • What can employers do to create and maintain a respectful workplace?

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Keynote Session: A.I., Robot: The Rise of AI and its Legal Implications for the Workplace

Speakers: Michela Fiorido - Harris & Co & Suzanne Kennedy - Harris & Co

Description: In this session, two privacy partners from one of Western Canada’s largest labour and employment firms will discuss the rise of AI in the workplace, largely as it pertains to its use by HR professionals in HR processes such as synthesizing data and making decisions. The presenters will also provide recommendations for Human Resource's use of AI in a privacy-complaint way. Additionally, they will explore some of the most modern forms of employee monitoring, including AI-enabled web captures and the legal implications for such monitoring. Not your basic A.I. 101 seminar, this seminar goes a step further in exploring the range (and risk) of AI use in the workplace by both employees and those working in human resources.

Learning Outcomes:

  • Explore how AI is used to benefit HR processes
  • Learn how to use AI in HR processes in a privacy compliant way 
  • Learn about the range and risks of AI use in the workplace 
  • Discover the latest legal updates in employee productivity monitoring


Meet Your Symposium Speakers

Braeden Wiens

Braeden Wiens is a Partner in the general litigation group primarily focused on the practice of commercial litigation. Braeden also practices in the areas of labour and employment, regulatory, and immigration law. Prior to joining Lindsay Kenney LLP, Braeden summered, articled, and practiced at a leading regional law firm in Vancouver. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts from the University of the Fraser Valley in 2012 before attending the Faculty of Law at the University of Western Ontario, where he graduated with a Juris Doctor in 2017. During his time in law school, he was a volunteer at the University of Western Ontario Community Legal Aid Clinic and the University of Western Ontario Sport Solution Clinic. He also worked under Prof. Richard McLaren who was the author of the McLaren Report which exposed organized Russian sport doping. With a focus on negotiation and mediation, Braeden strives to find a practical and efficient resolution for his clients. If that resolution requires going to court, he has the skills to achieve the best possible outcome.

Graham Christie

Graham maintains a general labour and employment practice with a focus on providing efficient and practical solutions for employers, including rural and urban municipalities. His practice encompasses four components of labour and employment law – litigation, advising, drafting and transactional matters. Graham has experience with labour disputes, collective agreement interpretation, employment agreements, workplace polices, discipline and discharge, human rights, workers’ compensation, and occupational health and safety regulations.

Michela Fiorido

Michela’s practice focuses on access, data security and privacy law, with an emphasis on delivering a wide range of privacy training and workshops; assisting clients in navigating access to information requests; and drafting privacy-related policies such as those that pertain to surveillance, technology use, social media, artificial intelligence, and privacy responsibility. Michela is a Certified Information Privacy Professional in Canada, a Certified Information Privacy Manager, and is recognized as a Fellow of Information Privacy. Additionally, she provides strategic advice about the intersection of privacy and human rights laws, such as social media searches and the collection and use of diversity data for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and compliance with internal, legal, award-based or client-imposed demographic benchmarks. Michela represents clients in complaint, review, inquiry and other matters before provincial and federal privacy commissioners and provides strategic advice to both public and private sector clients on their privacy obligations including cross-border data transfers and third party service provider agreements. Michela is called to the State Bar of California, and brings a unique perspective for international employers seeking advice about conducting business in Canada in a privacy-compliant way. She also assists First Nations bands and organizations in navigating the privacy law landscape. She offers a tailored “privacy starter package” to clients of all sizes who are looking for a place to begin in establishing a privacy program and achieving privacy compliance.

Suzanne Kennedy

Suzanne has built a strong practice in access and privacy law. She advises both public and private sector employers on their responsibilities as they navigate the implications of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA), the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA), the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and other related legislation. Suzanne regularly provides one-on-one training to in-house privacy and access coordinators on responding to access requests, conducting internal investigations, and the use of internal system information. In addition to privacy law, Suzanne has extensive experience in education and health law. Suzanne has represented various healthcare and educational professionals and organizations, providing advice in a range of areas including employment, professional regulatory proceedings and compliance, court and administrative tribunal proceedings, procurement, and contract negotiations.

Course curriculum

    1. Video

    2. PowerPoint

    1. Video

    2. PowerPoint

    1. Video

    2. PowerPoint

    1. Course Survey

About this course

  • 7 lessons
  • 3 hours of video content