Misconfigured payroll systems, new job‑posting requirements, and expanding sick‑leave and medical‑note regimes ‘sleeper risks’ in spotlight
Employment Law Masterclass Canada 2026 is coming just as the pressures landing on HR continue to mount.
Registration is now open for the masterclass happening virtually on Sept. 29.
The full-day event brings eight practical sessions and a live Q&A straight to your desk. You will hear from partners and senior counsel at firms including Miller Thomson LLP, Gowling WLG, Dentons Canada LLP and Stikeman Elliott LLP — and leave with concrete, practitioner-level steps you can put to work immediately.
Register today to reserve your place.
Cut litigation risk before it lands
Walk in knowing your contracts and policies are ready for 2026. Andrea Raso of Miller Thomson LLP opens the day on the employment standards changes that HR must operationalise now, spotlighting "sleeper" risks such as "misconfigured payroll systems, new job‑posting requirements, and expanding sick‑leave and medical‑note regimes."
Then test your assumptions in Jordan Epstein's session for Gowling WLG, pointedly titled "You Think You're Safe – You're Not." With many "standard" termination clauses no longer compliant, you will learn exactly where courts are striking down common wording — and how to fix yours before it costs you.
HR will also get ahead of the newest dispute trend: employees using tools such as ChatGPT to draft demand letters and pleadings that "overstate entitlements and strain HR capacity," as Siskinds LLP partner Christopher Sinal explains. Mathews, Dinsdale & Clark LLP partner Jennifer Wiegele rounds it out with a playbook for investigations that hold up.
Handle toughest people problems with confidence
Accommodation issues "now surface daily," and this masterclass gives you a defensible way through them. Dentons Canada LLP counsel Allison Buchanan shows you how to tell performance problems from invisible disabilities and apply the duty to inquire appropriately.
You will leave able to navigate family-status requests, assess vague or overreaching medical notes, and build defensible files in the hardest cases — mental health, long-term absence and potential frustration of contract.
Stewart McKelvey partner Rick Dunlop then tackles culture head-on. In "a highly polarized, always‑online environment," you will learn how far your codes of conduct should reach and how to respond to harassment, activism and off-duty conduct consistently and defensibly.
Future-proof how you manage and contract
Get the framework for using AI tools without creating new exposure. Spring Law managing partner Lisa Stam shows you where monitoring crosses into "unlawful surveillance, privacy risk, human rights exposure or even constructive dismissal" — and how to manage productivity expectations without fuelling burnout.
Coca-Cola Canada Bottling Ltd senior legal counsel Jessica Fay then turns the employment contract into a strategic asset, helping you build lawful flexibility into roles, location and ways of working as your organisation changes.
Close the day by putting your toughest questions to the experts. Alex Kagan of Aird & Berlis LLP and Khalfan Khalfan of Stikeman Elliott LLP headline a live Q&A on terminations, investigations and "cross‑province compliance headaches." Secure your spot for 29 September today.
