Meeting Your Duty to Accommodate
in Federally Regulated Workplaces

Improve workplace health and employee accommodations to meet legal requirements and ensure workforce viability

DAY TWO: Wednesday, march 19, 2008

7:30 - 8:30   Continental Breakfast   8:30 - 8:40 Welcome and Opening Remarks from the Chair Dan Palayew, Partner, Heenan Blaikie LLP   8:40 - 9:30 Accommodating an Older Workforce: Preparing for the Baby Boomers William Gleberzon, Government Relations Advisor, CARP - Canada's Association for the Fifty Plus What to expect: a look at the demographics Preparing for an aging workforce: developing policies to support older workers Distinguishing the line between old age and disability Accommodation planning for medical appointments and compassionate leave for spousal care: minimizing the effects of lost time   9:30 - 9:45   Networking Break   9:45 - 11:40 Panel Discussion Facilitating Communication between the Employee, Employer, Union and Physician Gilles Guay, Labour Relations Officer,Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission Paul Lalonde, Lawyer, Emond Harnden Lisa Addario, Employment Equity Officer, Public Service Alliance of Canada Robert Monti, Employment and Labour Law Groups, Nelligan O'Brien Payne LLP Managing physician relationships Role of the union: understanding the union's obligations in an accommodation case Effect of accommodation provisions in collective agreements Common problems and solutions to those problems   11:40 - 12:30 Implementing an Effective Return-to-Work Strategy Abdou Saouab, Assistant Director, Strategic Knowledge and Planning, Human Resources Social Development Canada Cutting down the long return-to-work (RTW) process Creative ways to facilitate an employee's return to work and reintegration: job sharing etc. Who's involved in RTW and what is their role?   12:30 - 1:45   Luncheon   1:45 - 2:35 Privacy and Confidentiality: Understanding and Working within the Boundaries Dan Palayew, Partner, Heenan Blaikie LLP Balancing privacy rights with the need for information Collecting personal information Disclosure and access to medical information Liability for privacy breaches   2:35 - 2:50   Networking Break   2:50 - 3:40 Family Status: The New "Cutting Edge" of Accommodation Morton G. Mitchnick, National Counsel, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP What "family status" means Are the courts in line with labour arbitrators? Direction family status is heading Is breast-feeding now a "workplace" issue?   3:40 - 4:30 Preventative and Proactive Strategies: Stopping the Issues Before They Start Myra Lefkowitz, Manager of Health and Well-Being Programs and Services, University of Toronto Julie McAlpine-Jeffries, Employment Relations Legal Counsel, University of Toronto Identifying proactive, practical strategies to manage difficult sick leave cases Strategies for managers to discuss accommodation in the context of frequent absenteeism Organizational processes and parameters that need to be defined for effective accommodation Education and communications   4:30   End of Day Two REGISTER