Lancaster’s Workplace Essentials: Outsourcing, layoff, recall, severance and other key issues in restructuring

In today’s turbulent sociopolitical and economic climate, it is critical for employers and unions to have a firm grasp of foundational principles regarding workplace reorganizations. In this installment of Lancaster’s Workplace Essentials webinar series, panelists will address key issues regarding restructuring, including:

• What is meant by the terms “contracting out” and “contracting in”?
• What factors will an arbitrator consider in determining whether outsourcing constitutes a genuine, “contracting out”?
• Can employers reassign duties to supervisors or employees outside the bargaining unit as part of restructuring?
• Can they reassign duties formerly performed by full-time employees to part-time employees?
• Will a unilateral reduction in working hours or changes to an employee’s shift times, position, job classification, or job location constitute a lay-off?
• Can management unilaterally schedule vacation to achieve a temporary shut-down without engaging lay-off provisions?
• How does collective agreement language impact the order in which employees must be laid off and their recall rights?
• What is “bumping up” and “bumping down” and when will either be permissible?
• When will a “lay-off” in fact amount to termination of employment?
• How will employees’ entitlements on termination change when they are let go as part of a large-scale restructuring?
• How do employer obligations, and union rights, differ when a restructuring is due to technological change as opposed to economic reasons?
• When will a merger, amalgamation, sale, or transfer of all or part of a business result in the new or acquiring entity being considered a successor or related employer?
• Must employers disclose plans to restructure during collective bargaining?
• What measures do parties seek to negotiate in collective agreements when restructuring occurs?
• What remedies can unions or employees seek when employers fail to adhere to their collective agreement or statutory obligations with respect to restructuring?
• How does insolvency or a declaration of bankruptcy impact employers’ liability and union and employee rights?
• What legislative changes and government programs have recently been introduced to avoid or cushion the impacts of large-scale downsizing or loss of employment through restructuring?

Learn more by visiting Lancaster’s Workplace Essentials or by contact cchan@lancasterhouse.com to learn more.