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Saturday, September 1, 2007

We have posted over 100 articles from our archives. They are available within the articles section and within Employment and Labour's Articles Section.

Below is an example of the many articles you can search. The article was written by Ed Canning and published January 9, 2007 in The Hamilton Spectator: Take Control of Your Future!

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. has been quoted as having once said, “This is a court of a law, young man, not a court of justice.”

The point is, of course, that law and justice are not the same thing. I receive emails on a weekly basis from people who are surprised to learn that the law does not provide a remedy for every unjust situation that arises in the workplace. Of course, if it actually did, who would need unions and collective agreements?

At the core of most of these emails is a feeling that people are not being treated with dignity and worth They have worked for years and always receive good reviews. Suddenly there is a new boss and they feel they have been picked as a scapegoat. Alternatively, some incident at work became confrontational, the employee was publicly chastised and feels humiliated and belittled. The employee now approaches the doors of their workplace every morning with a feeling of dread and aversion deep in the pit of their stomach.

Except in the most extraordinary of circumstances, these employees will have no remedy. The courts do not walk into workplaces and start telling people to be nicer to each other. If the harassment is truly extraordinary, and I mean to the point of being bizarre, the employee could take the position that they have been constructively dismissed - they have been fired without anyone telling them they are terminated. They could then walk out the door and sue for pay in lieu of reasonable notice. A few months pay, however, is not a job. Somebody has to pay the mortgage after the severance money is used up.

So the remedy, even in the most extreme circumstances, is stay and suck it up or walk and get a severance package. Those are the remedies that the law provides and it has little to do with justice. About 15 minutes into a consultation where I have explained the limited options available, and my client has become silent, I ask them the question, “So, how is your job search going?”

The question is rhetorical and perhaps a bit blunt but I’ve only got one meeting to make some impact and try to help.

The usual answer to my question is that they haven’t been looking. My response, “Why not?”

I haven’t had time. I hoped I could work this out. I don’t think I’ll find a job that pays as well. I like most of the people I work with and my work.

The real answer, and this applies to all of us at many points in our life, is the law of inertia. Being in an employment relationship is one of the primary relationships of our lives. After working somewhere for years, we become entrenched in our comfort zone. We know our job, the people we work with and really big stressors are few and far between. Its been so long that we can’t really imagine doing anything else.

Intellectually, we know that there are other jobs out there and other opportunities. In our head, we know we have other options. At some subconscious heart level, however, we can’t imagine a different work life and are terrified of change.

Many people stay in marriages for years that are making them miserable because of this law of inertia. It’s not surprising that it applies to employment relationships as well. After all, the employment relationship takes up as many waking hours as a marriage and sometimes more.

So then we come to the power of looking. The act of looking for work, even if you don’t find any, is transformative. You start to spend time looking at ads online and in the newspapers and imagining yourself working in a new job for a new employer. The more time you spend doing it, the more possible it becomes. Instead of being terrifying, the prospect of transition becomes inviting.

The other important benefit of the looking process is empowerment. Whether or not you get interviews for job prospects right away is irrelevant. What is relevant is that you are taking control of your own destiny. Instead of stumbling around in a state of deep freeze, you are taking control.

Control is crucial. People who sit in a workplace year after year and take abuse suffer most from a feeling of helplessness. They feel powerless and trapped.

By ignoring the job market and opportunities out there, people actually aid and abet their abusers. We are only powerless if we sit around like trapped rats waiting for our destiny.

Whether we like it or not, we live in a free market society. People buy and sell commodities based on market value. The highest bidder gets the commodity. Your labour is a commodity. You own it. You will likely never be paid properly for it if you are under the mistaken impression that your employer has a monopoly on those services. They are not the only potential bidder. They can only have a monopoly if you give it to them.

So the new year is here. A time for transition and resolutions. If you are one of those readers who is miserable on the way to work and less miserable on the way home, you have some thinking to do. Is it possible that the law of inertia can be defied?