Labour & Employment

When you work with the Labour & Employment group at McLennan Ross, your goals become our goals, your challenges become our responsibility to resolve. Our clients become part of a skilled team that has built its reputation on many decades of solid advice, industry experience, and fierce advocacy.

Regardless of the complexity of a labour issue, we offer smart, creative, practical solutions tailored to your unique needs and delivered in a straightforward way. You can always rely on the strength of our experience to help you effectively manage your most important asset – your workforce.

Our experience is unequaled.

Primarily serving the interests of employers, McLennan Ross has earned a strong reputation for solving as well as preventing problems. With one of the largest Employment and Labour groups in Western Canada, our lawyers are recognized nationally as well as internationally for handling some of the biggest and most complex labour cases in recent decades.

We take our role as trusted legal advisors seriously and work hard to provide practical judgment and clear guidance in the increasingly complex arena of labour relations. We offer clear and strategic assistance with collective bargaining, conciliation and labour arbitrations, assistance with discipline and grievance responses, along with representation in wrongful dismissal and constructive dismissal actions.

Not only is our experience in labour relations unequaled in our markets, we stay on the cutting edge of the current and ever-evolving labour and employment arena. We assist with occupational health and safety, privacy matters, drug testing, non-competition claims, confidentiality obligations, and workplace immigration.

We have the bench strength and depth to help employers navigate many niche areas of labour law, including construction labour relations and litigation, as well as conducting thorough workplace investigations and advising on human rights matters, such as harassment, discrimination, and accommodation. Our resources are unmatched in the areas where we practice.

You want us in your corner.

We are fierce advocates for our clients before administrative tribunals and at all levels of the court system, up to and including the Supreme Court of Canada. We have represented employers at every level of government, from federal to municipal, and both private and public sector employers in industries that include construction, post-secondary education, oil and gas and other energy sectors, technology, wholesale, transportation, retail, grocery, manufacturing, and the arts.

We have drafted a wide variety of labour and employment agreements, policies, and documentation. Our lawyers assist employers with the preparation, implementation, and application of executive contracts, employment agreements, non-competition and confidentiality provisions, change of control agreements, drug and alcohol testing programs, harassment policies, and general employment policies and practices.

Responsive. Decisive. Insightful.

Offering a more personal, attentive, and cost-sensitive relationship, we take the time and make the effort to understand every client, their organizations, and the background behind their issues.

The nature of labour and employment law means issues are usually urgent and require immediate responses. Rather than waiting for research or uncertain solutions, our experience gives our clients the benefit of receiving a decisive answer to questions in real-time, as they need it.

We provide insight into how to operate in Alberta and the North based on our connections to the people, industries, and issues involved in labour and employment law all across Canada. We provide targeted guidance that meets our clients’ needs with acumen based on decades of working with management and business owners. We think like management and our advice reflects it.

Bold and efficient.

We may have one of the largest Labour Law groups in Western Canada, but we keep our teams streamlined and efficient. Our group includes some of the most senior and respected labour and employment lawyers in Canada, as well as some of the best support staff in the business. From our experienced lawyers to our skilled junior lawyers to our employment paralegal staff, our team is focused and prepared to do what it takes to provide the exceptional service our clients deserve.

Across any industry and any labour or employment issue, no matter the size or complexity, we offer experience, knowledge, and skill, combined with careful attention and service.

Contact us today.

We’re always ready to help.

Canadian Association of Counsel to Employers

The McLennan Ross Labour & Employment team was instrumental in founding the Canadian Association of Counsel to Employers (CACE), an association of management-side labour and employment lawyers across Canada. CACE promotes excellence in the specialized field of labour and employment law and engages in legislation and law reform activities at the provincial and federal level. Created in 2004, CACE now has over 800 members, including most of the leading labour and employment counsel in the country. Find out more about CACE at: www.counseltoemployers.ca

Advocates for Employers of Canada

McLennan Ross is a founding member of Advocates for Employers of Canada (AEC), a nation-wide alliance forged between six of Canada’s pre-eminent management-side labour and employment law practices. From coast to coast, AEC advocates for employers in every sector of the economy. When needed, we offer streamlined, cross-jurisdictional legal services through a single point of contact. No matter where you do business, AEC’s nation-wide network of legal professionals provides practical and proactive legal advice on any challenge facing your workplace. Click here to find out more.