Employment Law

Curriculum guideline

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Course
BLAW 3750
Discontinued
No
Course code
BLAW 3750
Descriptive
Employment Law
Department
Business Law
Faculty
Commerce & Business Administration
Credits
3.00
Start date
End term
Not Specified
PLAR
No
Semester length
15 Weeks
Max class size
35
Course designation
None
Industry designation
None
Contact hours

Lecture: 3 hours/week

and 

Seminar: 1 hour/week

Method(s) of instruction
Lecture
Seminar
Learning activities

Lectures, seminars, videos, analysis of legal issues, discussion of legal cases, case assignments, and/or group activities.

Course description
This course will provide students with a review of statutory and common law sources of employment law, with a particular emphasis on the scope of employee protections available under employment standards and human rights legislation. Students will also gain a strong understanding of the extent of employee and employer rights and potential liabilities where the employment relationship is terminated (whether by the employee or the employer).

Students who have already received credit for BUSN 3750 will not get further credit for this course.
Course content
  1. Introduction to Employment Law
    1. constitutional jurisdiction over employment law
    2. applicability and relevance of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms
    3. common law and statutory sources of employment law
    4. employment relationships as compared with that of independent contractors and agents
    5. common law contract concepts, including consideration, unconscionability, obsolescence, ambiguity, and contra proferentum, as well as restrictive covenants
  2. Human Rights
    1. British Columbia Human Rights Code
    2. prohibited grounds of discrimination
    3. human rights concerns in the context of job postings and evaluation of candidates for employment
    4. duty to accommodate, and notion of bona fide occupational requirements
    5. employment equity
  3. Employment Standards
    1. applicability of British Columbia Employment Standards Act
    2. statutory minimum standards
    3. statutory termination notice
    4. complaints process under the Employment Standards Act
  4. Occupational Health and Safety, and Workers Compensation
    1. claims process under British Columbia Workers Compensation Act
    2. rights and responsibilities of employers and employees (including supervisors) under the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation, including the rights of employees to be made aware of workplace hazards and to refuse to perform unsafe work
    3. availability and scope of the defence of due diligence with respect to contraventions of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation
  5. Privacy
    1. applicability of British Columbia Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and Personal Information Protection Act
    2. obligations owed by employers to employees regarding the collection, use, and disclosure of employee personal information
  6. Termination of Employment Relationship
    1. wrongful resignation
    2. progressive discipline
    3. condonation
    4. grounds for just cause for dismissal
    5. wrongful dismissal, including calculation of damages
    6. constructive dismissal
    7. duty of mitigation
Learning outcomes

 The successful student will be able to:

  • summarize the differences and similarities between employment relationships, independent contractor relationships, and agency relationships;
  • recognize basic common law principles applicable to employment law;
  • identify fundamental human rights concepts that commonly arise in the employment context;
  • describe fundamental employee rights and protections provided under the Employment Standards Act and applicable privacy legislation;
  • explain employee and employer rights and obligations under the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation, as well as the claims process under the Workers Compensation Act; and
  • demonstrate a strong understanding of employer and employee rights and potential liabilities (including appreciation of damages concepts) in the context of termination of the employment relationship.
Means of assessment

Assessment will be in accordance with the Douglas College Evaluation Policy.

Term Examination(s) 30 - 50%*
Final Examination 25 - 40%
Assignment(s) 10 - 30%
Participation 0 - 5%
Total: 100%

NOTES:

  1. *No one examination may be worth more than 40%.
  2. Instructors may use a student’s record of attendance and/or level of active participation in the course as part of the student’s graded performance. Where this occurs, expectations and grade calculations regarding class attendance and participation will be clearly defined in the Instructor Course Outline.
  3. Students may conduct research as part of their course work in this class. Instructors for the course are responsible for ensuring that student research projects comply with College policies on ethical conduct for research involving humans, which can require obtaining Informed Consent from participants and getting the approval of the Douglas College Research Ethics Board prior to conducting the research.
Textbook materials

McKay, Gail, B. Gaetz, K. Filsinger, T. Harris, and K. Williams-Whitt, Employment Law for Business and Human Resources Professionals: Alberta and British Columbia. Latest Edition, (Toronto: Edmond Montgomery Publications), or

Other textbook(s) as approved by the Business Law Department, and

Additional cases and/or readings as per the Instructor's discretion. 

Prerequisites

None

Corequisites

None

Equivalencies

BUSN 3750

Which prerequisite

Nil