Part-time LLM Specializing in
Labour Relations and Employment Law:
Course Descriptions*
Perspectives on Labour and Employment Law: From Theory to Practice
[6 credits]
This course examines theoretical approaches that have
played a significant role in the development of Canadian
labour and employment law, and also looks at the
contribution that empirical and comparative research
methodologies have made to the study of this area of law.
Selected writings by labour law scholars, in Canada and
elsewhere, will be reviewed from both a theoretical and a
methodological perspective.
The Individual Employment Relationship [6 credits]*
New patterns for the utilization and control of
productive labour have prompted debate over the
effectiveness of existing mechanisms for the regulation
of workplace relationships. The course focuses on
common law and statutory regulation of the terms and
conditions in employment relationships not covered by
collective bargaining, with emphasis on the impact of
recent economic, judicial and statutory developments
for the continued relevance of these standards in the
modern context. It includes an historical survey of their
development and an overview of the basic protections
offered to workers in Ontario and other Canadian
jurisdictions in areas such as hours of work, vacation,
maternity and parental leave, and notice of termination.
The interaction of individual employment law with
collective agreements and employment standards
legislation will also be considered. Finally, the course
addresses the continuing development of employment
standards legislation in the face of the global economy
and new working arrangements, such as telecommuting
and contract work. Students will consider whether
these changes call for the raising of existing standards
or for more flexibility for employers. This includes a
reconsideration of the effectiveness and appropriateness
of focusing on employment as the foundational concept
for the operation of existing schemes of regulation.
The Charter and Human Rights in Labour Law [6 credits]*
The workplace has been a significant source of legal
developments in respect of both statutory human
rights legislation and the constitutionally entrenched
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This course
will examine, in the employment context, the nature of
prohibited discrimination and statutory defences, the
duty to accommodate, and remedies under human rights
statutes, as well as the processes for dealing with such
issues. In particular, the respective roles of the human
rights administrative process and collective agreement
arbitration will be assessed. In respect of the Charter,
the role of administrative tribunals as well as courts in
dealing with Charter claims will be considered. The
substantive focus will be the impact of s. 15 (equality),
s. 2(d) freedom of association, and s. 2(b) (freedom of
expression) on labour law.
Labour and Employment Law in the New Economy [6 credits]*
The ‘new economy’ is defined by globalization, by
technological change and by neoliberal policies which
envisage a more limited role for the state in the labour
market and elsewhere. These forces - individually and
in combination - challenge many of the assumptions
on which collective bargaining and protective labour
legislation have traditionally been grounded. This course
explores both the resulting stresses in existing regimes of
labour law and attempts to create new regimes, especially
those with international and transnational dimensions.
Industrial Conflict: Common Law and Labour Board Remedies
[3 credits]*
In the regulation of strikes, lockouts and picketing,
the common law often comes to the surface and fits
uneasily with the statutory labour relations regime, both
substantively and in terms of remedies. The following are
among the topics that may be dealt with in this course:
the common law industrial torts and their new life after
Pepsi-Cola; the right to strike at common law and its
continued relevance to workers not covered by labour
relations legislation; issues arising from the growing
use of partial strike tactics; the impact (if any) of the
Charter rights of freedom of association and expression
on strikes and picketing, including political strikes; the
interface between court and labour board jurisdiction,
substantively and in terms of available remedies, and the
appropriate extent of court deference to legislative and
board regulation in the Charter era; recent jurisprudence
on the legal capacity of unions and its implications
for the regulation of industrial conflict; the extent of
the employer's right to use replacement workers; and
the extent of the job rights of returning strikers. High
union density in the public and parapublic sectors,
and growing governmental concern for fiscal restraint,
make it necessary to consider the treatment of strikes
and lockouts in essential services and the justification
for imposing dispute resolution procedures that do not
involve work stoppages.
Labour and Pension Law in Restructuring the
Insolvent Enterprise
[3 credits]*
Labour and pension law are remedial regulatory
regimes designed to protect employees in their relations
with their employers. Once it becomes insolvent
however, that employer loses much of its control over
the enterprise to creditors. This course addresses the
consequences of an employer’s insolvency for the labour
and pension rights of employees. In particular, the
course will concentrate on the effects on these rights of
the choice of restructuring, rather than liquidation, as
the means to deal with insolvency.
Comparative Labour Law: The Wagner Model [3 credits]*
The Canadian labour law model has long been linked
legislatively and philosophically wit the American
Wagner Act model. Yet, for all the similarities
between the two models, there are significant
differences too. Some of these differences flow directly from variations in statutory language and
constitutional divisions of power, while others are
the result of different trajectories in the case law
of the National Labor Relations Board and the
American courts. In debates about labour law reform
in both countries over the years, reference has often
been made to the perceived benefits and flaws of
the other system. This course will introduce the
student to the key aspects of the American labor law
model, including its historical development and key
moments in case law and legislative reform, as well
as the theoretical and philosophical debates that have
shaped the model over time and at present.
Major Research Paper [6 credits]
A Major Research Paper (MRP) of approximately
70 pages may be completed on an approved topic
in Labour Relations and Employment law, provided
appropriate supervision is available.
The MRP should go beyond merely describing legal
developments to include independent critical analysis
of its subject matter. It should be work of publishable
quality. You will be required, at a minimum, to submit
to your supervisor an outline and bibliography for
approval before writing your paper. The final paper is
marked on a pass/fail basis.
Note: Curriculum and course descriptions are subject to change.
*New courses and course changes are subject to Senate approval.
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