Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

The study of issues related to work and/or trade unions not offered in regular courses. Students who have completed special temporary topics course LBST 389 cannot complete this course for further credit when it is offered as "Studying Labour Through Film."

COURSE DETAILS:

This course will offer students an introduction to Canadian labour and employment law. It will cover the law applicable to both the union and non-union sectors.   With respect to the union sector, the seminar and readings will primarily cover the British Columbia Labour Relations Code, which regulates approximately 90% of the union employers and employees in the province.  However reference will also be made to the Canada Labour Code which regulates the remaining 10%.   With respect to the non-union sector – the almost 70% of British Columbia employees and their employers not covered by a collective agreement, their relationship is regulated primarily by principles from the common law – that is, largely court made law.  

The course will also deal extensively with two vitally important statutes applicable to both the union and non-union sectors - the B.C. Employment Standards Act and the B.C. Human Rights Code.  

Despite the commonly held view that British Columbia ranks along with Québec as one of the 2 most heavily unionized provinces in the country, in fact it ranks 6 of the 10 at 31.3%.  

The course time and material will roughly reflect the relative importance of these two legal regimes - union/non-union - in the province’s economic and political life.  It will provide a brief history of labour and employment law in Canada and in British Columbia.  It will also provide a basis for critically analyzing the law – which is often described as one of the most overtly politically-influenced branches of the law.  

Examples of the specific topics we will deal with include, for the union sector: organizing a union, unfair labour practices by employers and by unions, mediation/arbitration, bargaining in good faith, and strikes/lockouts.  

For the nonunion sector, we will deal with: who is an employee as opposed to self-employed, an agent, partner, or officeholder; the employee’s obligations to her/his employer; who is an employer; successor employers; the employer’s obligations to the employee; privacy issues in the employment relationship; and employee testing for drugs and alcohol.   

While it’s important to bear in mind the different legal regimes – union/nonunion – they are not watertight compartments.  Students will find that significant developments in one regime may very quickly acquire similar significance in the other regime and vice versa.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

1. Students will become familiar with all aspects of Canadian and British Columbia labour and employment law.  They will be able to access the many online resources available without charge, including the applicable statutes as well as the decided cases, in both legal regimes.  They will be able to research specific issues and identify the relevant statutes and case law to enable them to answer questions that may arise in their own work life or in their professional life; or enable them to advise others on those issues.  
2. Students will also be able to critically analyze the importance and effect of legislation, as well as decided cases from the Employment Standards Branch, the Courts, labour arbitrators, and the Labour Relations Board.

Grading

Materials

MATERIALS + SUPPLIES:

There is no required text.  A book of readings and cases will be available at the Burnaby Campus Bookstore.  Additional readings will be made available over the course of this semester.