The Lawyers Weekly - February 4, 2011

Quebec public lawyers ready to strike

Highlights

ORDINARY DRIVERS

Frustration mounts for
Crown prosecutors and
government lawyers

Road authority claims
and the ‘ordinary driver’

PAGE 9

LUIS MILLAN MONTREAL

INVISIBLE CHAINS

Exasperated that labour negotiations with the Quebec government are at a standstill, provincial Crown prosecutors and government lawyers have joined forces to launch an imminent general strike that will likely cripple the province’s justice system—unless there is a major turnabout in the government’s seemingly unyielding stance.

Asserting that they are the worst-paid in the country and woefully understaffed, making it all but impossible to recruit new staff and adhere to their code of professional conduct, members of the Quebec Crown counsel association (APCPPQ) and the Association des juristes de l’État (AJE) recently voted overwhelmingly — a 90 per cent landslide—in favour of a general strike.

“We don’t want to strike,” said Marc Lajoie, president of the AJE, a union representing nearly 1,000 lawyers, notaries, and other legal professionals. “We want to be able to resolve our problems but there has been no

Christian Leblanc (l) and Marc Lajoie (r) head the Quebec public lawyers’ groups that voted in favour of a strike.

WASSIM NJEIM FOR THE LAWYERS WEEKLY

progress so we are going to use the ultimate recourse we have to be able to make things advance.” Both organizations are seeking a dramatic surge in salaries, an increase that will put them on par with the national Canadian average. At present, Quebec Crown prosecutors and government lawyers earn at least 30

per cent below the national average, according to the latest figures provided by AJE. A lawyer employed by the Quebec government can earn at most $100,756 or 45.5 per cent of the salary earned by a judge of the Court of Quebec. In contrast, the top salary of an Ontario Crown prosecutor or government lawyer is

$200,924 or 79.8 per cent of a provincial court judge, making it the highest in the country. In Nova Scotia that figure stands at $130,143, in Manitoba $133,697, in Alberta $176,628, and in British Columbia $177,653.

Quebec Crown prosecutors and government lawyers are

See Strike Page 2

Canada fails to combat
human trafficking

PAGE 14

REVIEWS

Making annual
reviews worthwhile

PAGE 21

RE-QUALFIYING Equity partner can bring human rights complaints against firm
Tribunal casts doubt
on forced retirement

Eric Harris of Vancouver’s Harris & Co., who represents the respondent Fasken Martineau Dumoulin LLP, told The Lawyers Weekly Faskens will seek judicial review of the potentially far-reaching tribunal decision which rejected the firm’s bid to have J. Mitch McCormick’s age discrimination complaint dismissed on jurisdictional grounds.

(There has been no decision on the merits of his allegations.)

Under s. 13(1) of British Colum-
bia’s Human Rights Code, employ-
ees are protected from age dis-
crimination. The tribunal accepted
that McCormick, a corporate-com-
mercial and securities lawyer in
Fasken’s Vancouver office, is an
employee under the Code.

Neither party to the litigation would comment on the case.

However, employment law practitioner David Harris of Toronto predicted that if the decision stands, it will create “a huge problem” for many large law firms.

“It is a very significant case as it has concluded equity partners in law firms are considered employees under human rights legislation,” he told The Lawyers Weekly.

“Most large law firms mandate retirement at a fixed age,” he noted. “It exposes these firms to

See McCormick Page 28

Lawyers re-qualifying in
Canada face hurdles

PAGE 23

CRISTIN SCHMITZ OTTAWA

In the first decision of its kind in Canada, a British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal has ruled that a 66-year-old equity partner who is being forced to retire may proceed with his age discrimination complaint against his national law firm.

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