Ethics and Law Quiz #2

What types of liabilities do we cover in the course?

Contract, tort, federal/provincial laws, employment, IP, environmental

Where did modern day Tort originate from (which case)?

Donoghue v Stevenson (snail in opaque bottle made her sick, but she didn’t buy it, so originally nothing could be done b/c no duty to breach)

What is the Neighbour Principle?

Ensure your acts or omissions do not unintentionally harm your neighbour (from snail case)

What is the Cooper v Hobart case?

Cooper invested in Eron Mortgage Group, they went out of business from misusing investors funds. Sued BC Registrar for failing to suspend their licence, but no breach of the duty of care to the individual investors. Sufficient proximity (was it foreseeable?)

What is the Hedley Byrne v Heller case?

Professional and unintentional tort example, bankers gave advice that a company had a good credit rating, when they actually had a bad one. Bankers lost $$$. Professionals are responsible

What is the Deep Pockets Theory?

Using independent sub contractors to spread liability out

Space shuttle challenger case

Whistleblowing, engineers were asked to prove a failure would happen, rather than being allowed to argue from a statistical standpoint.

Types of whistleblowing

Acknowledged (confidential) versus anonymous (anonymous is safer for the blower, but less validity if no name associated with the action
Internal versus external (issues with confidentiality and duty to employers are issues in external whistleblowing)

Criteria for whistleblowing (4 items)

Need (a valid reason to blow, a significant risk to safety or illegal/cover up)
Proximity (not based on rumours, need first hand knowledge)
Capability (in a position to make necessary changes)
Last resort (should only be for very serious/illegal actions, need to explore all other formal/informal processes first)

What is the BART (Bay Area Transit) case?

Completely new automatic train control, no fail safe methods, safety implemented as redundancy. BART has flat management structure, engineers noticed issues with Westinghouse designed ATC (rushed testing). Engineers tried internal complaint first, nothing happened so complained to BoD, who took information to the press. Engineers later fired for insubordination. Later there was an accident that injured 5 people due to ATC, fixed and nothing else ever happened.

Comparison of cases

Off duty conduct

Nurse Amy made professional misconduct by making discriminatory statements about transgender people on social media. One month suspension and fine of $100k

Employment Standards Act

Sets minimum standards (excludes architects, lawyers, healthcare, engineers). Minimum wage, overtime, termination etc.

Human Rights Code of BC

Safeguards people from discrimination in employment, actively advances human rights principles and provides ways to address violations.

What are the protected areas for the human rights code?

Race, colour, ancestry, place of origin, political belief, religion, marital status, family status, sex, age, family status, age, or criminal convictions. Also can’t post discriminatory ads.

What is the test for discrimination?

Is it a protected characteristic?
Is there an adverse impact?
Is there a causal connection?

Chrysanthous v EGBC

Alleged his membership was cancelled due to political beliefs, but he’s actually just a wacko. NO evidence connecting EGBCs decision to his political beliefs, complaint dismissed.

What is a BFOR (bona fide occupational requirement)?

Job requirement that may seem discriminatory but is necessary for the job. Three part test:
Rational connection? (Clear links)
Good faith?
Reasonable necessity? (no alternatives)

What is the duty to accommodate?

Must accommodate physical and mental disabilities and religious beliefs. Can’t be unreasonable about this though

What medical information are employers allowed to ask?

Prognosis (recovery timeline and outcome)
Return to work (when?)
Job capabilities (regular or alternative duties needed?)
Accommodation needs (any modifications required?)

Independent medical exam

Disagreement between employee/employer about severity—>third party assessment—>objective report—>resolution

Workers Compensation Act

Provide medical treatment and salary for injured workers, no fault system, employers must maintain safe workplaces and pay into the system. Establishes requirements for workplace safety committees, provides mechanisms for enforcing these rules. Mandates accident reporting

Power Under the PGA

Suspension power
Practice limitations
Immediate protection powers (if necessary for public interest)

Search and Seizure PGA

Entry and inspection (entry at reasonable time)
Production of records
Seizure of items

What are Remedies in the PGA?

Kind of like making a plea deal

Brian McClure

Defects on structural design, both EGBC and McClure signed off on Consent Order (admitting wrongdoing), McClure punished

What are the parts of the Personal Information Protection Act?

Privacy Protection (safeguards for personal info)
Information handling (collecting, using and disclosing data)
Scope (applies to employees and public info)

Some employee tracking software raises privacy concerns

Canada Labour Code (engineers/professionals are excluded)

Labour relations
Key parties
Federal Employers
Enforcement

Canadian Human Rights Act

Protects federal entities (banks, trucking, broadcasting, telecommunications)

What is labour law?

Union representation
Bargaining agents
Collective agreement
Dispute resolution

Only 3% of complaints are successful

Non-competition clauses

Usually these clauses are not enforceable unless it is a super duper rare job
Ex. IRIS v Park (3 year non competition within 5km of optometrist office on any business dispensing optical products—>unenforceable)

What are the criteria for a non-competition clause to be reasonable?

Protected interest
Alternative protections (Can less restrictive measures achieve the same goal?)
Scope analysis

What is a non-solicitation clause?

“You can’t steal our employees”, more enforceable than a non-competition clause

What makes a non-solicitation clause reasonable?

Time period (must be reasonable)
Protected relationships (must clearly define who cannot be solicited)
Public interest (must not unduly restrict competition)

What are the types of dismissal/severance? (4 types)

Constructive dismissal (fundamental changes to employment terms without consent)
With cause (termination for serious misconduct, no notice or pay needed)
Without cause (termination with notice period or severance)
Resignation

What are the ways you can resolve these disputes?

Courts (civil tribunal, small claims)
Specialized tribunals (human rights, professional regulatory)
Alternative resolution (mediation, arbitration, negotiated settlement)

Greenhouse gas pollution

Extreme weather events as top long term global risk
82% of GHG in Canada from energy production/use
almost 2/3 of energy is lost in conversion

Demand side management vs supply side management

Reduce, reuse, recycle (first 2 are most important), DSM is about changing consumer habits
DSM costs less than SSM
Ex reduce shower time, turn off lights, put on a sweater, EVs, electric heat pumps, etc

What are the 3 E’s of energy efficiency?

Environment (using less energy lowers carbon footprint)
Employment (more labour intensive than supply options, could create 200k new jobs in Canada)
Economy (high return, low risk, savings can be reinvested in more energy efficiency)

What are the barriers to energy efficiency?

Awareness
Technical
Financial
Market
Institutional

Which province had the highest/lowest score on the energy efficient report card?

BC (5th consecutive year, Clean BC Roadmap)/Alberta

Case study - Whistler energy efficiency

Targets by 2030, zero net emissions, zero waster to landfill, zero net operating impacts on forests/habitat. SFU has goal to reduce energy consumption 2% YoY

What are the different energy management programs?

Residential
Innovative tech
Education/outreach
Commercial
Rebates
Industrial (largest customer is data centre in the Kootenays)

What are the general types of IP law in Canada? (4 types)

Copyright
Industrial design
Trademarks
Trade secrets/patents

Copyright

Needs skill/judgement to be protected
Books, lyrics, paintings, photographs, games etc
Economic and moral rights (you can choose how your work is distributed, ex Eaton Centre geese)

How to protect copyright?

Automatically vest (if you make a song, its already protected)
Can be registered
Length of protection may vary but usually 70 years from death of the author

Trademarks

If you dont use it, you lose it (if not used in 3 years, then you forfeit your rights, simply advertising is not enough)
For changing a logo, is it a material difference? if no, trademark still applies
Ex words, logo, colour, shape, sounds, taste etc

How to protect trademarks?

can be registered or unregistered
infinite protection as long as there is use
international trademark system (minimizes cost, trademarks are expensive but 1/3 of the world doesnt use this system)

Industrial Design

Protects original features of share, or configuration that are judged by the eye.
10 years from registration or 15 years from date of filing
Doesnt protect utilitarian function or manufacturing methods

Trade secrets

Information that is not generally known in the business, has economic value from not being known and has reasonable efforts to maintain its secrecy
ex recipes, manufacturing processes, client databases
No registration required (no statutes that officially protect it in Canada, but criminal laws exist)
Infinite in duration if guarded properly

What are the 3 criteria for patents?

Novelty
Inventiveness
Utility

No math formulas, nothing that occurs in nature

Patent

Dont need to continually use it like a trademark
After 20 years, into the public domain
Jurisdictional (Canadian patent not valid in US and vice versa)
First to file system, so once you determine the “essential elements” submit it
PCT is the international patent system

What are the parts of a patent application?

Abstract
Background
Summary
Drawings
Detailed Description
Claims (what are the essential elements, what is the intent of the inventor, read purposively, obvious to a skilled worker, ex Monsanto vs Eastman Acetic Acid process)

Comparison of IP rights

Take-home calculation for DSM lecture

What is the wait for the Human Rights Tribunal currently?

18 months to even look at it, make sure you file your complain before it expires