Sudbury lawyer featured at international conference.A prominent Sudbury lawyer was selected to moderate and speak at an international labour and employee law conference in Europe last month. In May, Brian Gatien, president of Gatien Human Resources The fancy word for "people." The human resources department within an organization, years ago known as the "personnel department," manages the administrative aspects of the employees. Law, headed up an international panel and also delivered a paper on employee privacy rights and whistle-blowing whistle-blowing, exposure of fraud and abuse by an employee. The federal law that legitimated the concept of the whistle-blower, the False Claims Act (1863, revised 1986), was created to combat fraud by suppliers to the federal government during the Civil War. protection at the American Bar The American Bar is a drinking establishment at the Savoy Hotel in London. Opened in 1898 when cocktail were being first introduced to London. The term American Bar comes from the 1930s when cocktails were first gaining popularity in the United States. Association's (ABA) International Labour Law Committee meeting in Vienna, Austria. Gatien is regarded as an esteemed Canadian labour relations labour relations (US), labor relations npl → relations fpl dans l'entreprise labour relations labour npl → Beziehungen pl specialist and has considerable experience as a chief negotiator for a number of corporate clients. "This is the first year that they've invited me to actually participate on the panel," says Gatien, a long-time ABA committee member, who has been attending the annual mid-year conference for the past 10 years. The experience has taken him to such international capitals as Hong Kong Hong Kong (hŏng kŏng), Mandarin Xianggang, special administrative region of China, formerly a British crown colony (2005 est. pop. 6,899,000), land area 422 sq mi (1,092 sq km), adjacent to Guangdong prov. , London, Paris, Rome and Barcelona. The four-day event, which took place May 14-18 at the Grand Hotel Wien, usually attracts between 60- and 80 international lawyers, predominately from the U.S., but organizers were expecting a large contingent from Europe this year. He delivered a Canadian perspective on restrictions on employees' individual freedom as well as other privacy issues. Gatien says attending the conference offered him a glimpse into how other jurisdictions structure their labour and employment legislation. "The way we approach things in Canada is kind of a hybrid between British common law with some American overlap. But also in Quebec, they have the continental Europe Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands and, at times, peninsulas. civil code approach to labour and employment relationships. "Canadian lawyers with that exposure and experience are uniquely situated to deal with European lawyers working in a common law jurisdiction. We understand their civil code approaches and we know how to translate that into common law jurisprudence." The connections he has made abroad have resulted in foreign lawyers asking his advice and counsel on matters of Canadian and Ontario law. Most recently, he helped the British subsidiary of a Canadian corporation with an employment contract in the hiring of an executive. While attending the Hong Kong conference 10 years ago, Gatien had the opportunity to meet Chris Patten, the last British Governor of Hong Kong The Governor of Hong Kong (Traditional Chinese: 香港總督; abbreviated 港督) was a British official who ruled Hong Kong during the colonial period between 1841 and 1997 and was ex-officio prior to the 1997 handover n. 1. The act of relinquishing property or authority etc. to another; as, the handover of occupied territory to the original posssessors; the handover of power from the military back to the civilian authorities s>. to China, to discuss the basic law of that country. Gatien says Hong Kong was referred to as a "special administrative region A special administrative region may be:
Though he doesn't intend to open a Far East office anytime soon, Gatien says attending these conferences offers him a glimpse into the export of services or products to China and Asia. Gatien has been practicing the management side of labour law since being called to the bar in 1980. He spent his first five years conducting provincial negotiations with the Ontario Hospital Association as its first director of paramedical par·a·med·i·cal adj. 1. Of, relating to, or being a person trained to give emergency medical treatment or assist medical professionals. 2. and nursing negotiations, before moving to Sudbury in 1985. His 10-employee firm represents between 120 and 150 clients, mostly in the Canadian public, natural resources and private sector manufacturing engaged in international trade. The company also offers legal advice in the recruitment of foreign workers to Canada, helps develop employment contracts for Canadians working abroad, and advises Canadian companies on employment regulations in other countries. www.gatienlaw.com By IAN ROSS Northern Ontario Business Northern Ontario Business is a Canadian magazine, which publishes monthly in Greater Sudbury, Ontario. The magazine covers business news and issues in Northern Ontario. |
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