What we do for our Labour & Employment clients

Understanding your rights, responsibilities and options provides you with the tools to ensure your business operates efficiently and in accordance with applicable legislation and the ever-evolving common law.

Our Labour and Employment lawyers work closely with clients in both the organized labour context (unions) and the open employment sector. In the organized labour realm, we act exclusively for employers and management, helping our clients navigate their responsibilities in a unionized environment to create an effective labour relations strategy. This includes assisting with all aspects of union certification processes, collective bargaining with union representatives and handling collective bargaining disputes through mediation, arbitration and litigation when required. We also help employers and management with creating the kind of working environments that decrease employee interest in unionization.

When issues such as wrongful dismissal or occupational health and safety charges arise, we provide strategic litigation defense to both unionized and non-unionized clients. Our litigation skills are increasingly being put to work helping employers deal with former employees who have breached confidentiality obligations and non-competition or non-solicitation agreements. As the world shifts to a more innovation-based economy, the need for employers to protect confidential and proprietary information from misuse by either current or former employees is becoming increasingly important. We work closely with Parlee McLaws’ Intellectual Property & Innovation (IP) group to help protect our clients’ assets.

Our depth and breadth of labour and employment law experience has made us adept at handling employment-related privacy complaints made pursuant to both federal and provincial laws. We assist clients with the drafting of collective, executive and management agreements, as well as with a variety of employment, consulting and other employment-related agreements and workplace policies. We also defend human rights complaints before the Alberta Human Rights Commission and the Canadian Human Rights Commission, and provide day-to-day counseling on various employment-related issues.

How we work with our clients

Our goal is to create long-term relationships with our clients that are based on trust, responsiveness and results. We respect our clients’ time and resources, and take pride in solving problems – efficiently and effectively.

Parlee McLaws is a large, regional firm that is invested in our province and its success. For over 125 years, we’ve grown with Alberta and we are uniquely prepared to help our clients adapt and thrive. Our in-house expertise in areas such as intellectual property and immigration can help Labour and Employment clients maximize opportunities, minimize risks and mitigate potential issues that may impact their business.