Bio
Damon Bailey is a respected labour lawyer, known for his good judgment and straightforward, decisive approach. He has the ability to examine details and tie them together into a strategic plan to help employers successfully navigate the complexities of labour law.
With a particular talent for arbitrations, Damon gets straight to the point with clear direction and concise advice. Clients want him in their corner because he’s a strong leader in negotiations who doesn’t equivocate or hesitate.
Damon assists unionized employers with collective bargaining, collective agreement interpretation, disciplinary matters, and grievances. He helps employers with union certification applications and assists with developing effective communication strategies. Damon helps employers interpret their collective agreements, and when necessary, fiercely protects their rights.
With high-stakes certification applications, clients need skilled advice. Damon gives clear guidance, based on years in the field. He has extensive experience handling judicial review applications, certification applications, unfair labour practice complaints, common and successor employer applications, and picketing injunctions. His experience also includes health and safety policies, discipline and discharge matters, and issues arising from complex technological change in the workplace.
For non-union employers, he handles drafting employment contracts, implementing employee terminations, and defending wrongful dismissal claims. He also defends Employment Standards Code complaints, human rights complaints, and conducts Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) appeals.
In his active arbitration practice, Damon has more than 50 reported discipline and discharge cases involving allegations of employee theft, falsification of company records, health and safety violations, workplace violence, illegal drug use, poor attendance, insubordination, WCB fraud, willful destruction of property, and poor performance.
He has appeared at all levels of the Alberta Court and regularly appears before the Alberta Labour Relations Board. As an accomplished trial lawyer, he has a talent for analyzing stories and finding inconsistencies. His experience includes human rights tribunals, boards of reference appointed under the Education Act, and the Workers’ Compensation Board Appeals Commission.
Damon represents a large cross-section of employers. His valued clients include retailers, wholesalers, manufacturers, food processors, airlines, oil and gas companies, health care providers, utilities, educational institutions, construction companies, banks, and mortgage brokers.
He offers his clients practical advice that is tailored to each individual workplace. In his field, issues come up quickly and need to be dealt with swiftly, day or night. Without wasting time or resources on unnecessary disagreements, Damon believes in prompt scheduling, thorough preparations, and delivering results to get his clients where they want to be quickly and efficiently.